Original lithograph published in Verve magazine by Teriade in 1952.
It is part of a series of paintings exploring the same theme, this being the first in that series.
As a painter Fernand Léger exerted an enormous influence on the development of Cubism, Constructivism and the modern advertising poster as well as various forms of applied art. He also taught at Yale University and at Mills College in California from 1940 until 1945.
He is considered a foundational figure in the development of Cubism alongside contemporaries Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, but he pioneered an abstract style all his own: His aesthetic, which features primary colors and disjointed, rounded forms, has been informally called “Tubism.”
Léger’s graphic, flattened scenes of contemporary city life, circuses, and common objects offered an accessible approach to Cubist vocabularies and helped spur the development of Pop art. His service during World War I sparked an interest in the machines and elements of industry that appear across his later canvases.
During his lifetime, Léger exhibited widely, both in his native France and abroad, and his work can be found in many major collections of the Tate, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou and others.
Leger’s style is unmistakable and memorable. Partie de Campagne, a series variously translated as The Picnic or The Country Outing, is a series of variations, and part of a project he called the Great Parade. As lithographs, these were among Léger s most famous works.
Léger’s picnickers are interested in food. The central figure of a reclining woman wears a swimsuit. Sitting beside her is a man’s semi-informal clothing, suit jacket, shirt and tie, and hat. An automobile in the background always requires repairs, but no one seems concerned.
