Bicyclette tordue

The publisher Tériade commissions Fernand Léger to produce the illustrated book Cirque, with both text and images printed in lithography by Mourlot. In this book, Fernand Léger compares the exciting life of the country cyclist (himself) with that of the acrobat.

The circus is a recurring theme in the artist's pictorial universe. Like many moderns, he often went to the Cirque d'Hiver and the Medrano circus. But the show is above all a pretext for reflection on art: it is a metaphor for modern life, as it condenses agitation and simultaneity into a single performance.

"Nothing is as round as the circus (...) It doesn't stop, everything follows on. The ring dominates, commands, absorbs."

In this study, the artist's work on the circularity of forms is omnipresent, with roundness everywhere, from roads to wheels to bicycle handlebars.