The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of August 19, 2026

Graphite on horizontally oriented tan paper with deckled edges outlines a still life of overlapping geometric forms. In the center, a shaded tall bottle rises behind a splayed, open book. To the left, a faceted sphere rests on a tilted plane; to the right, a round fruit and cylinder lie atop a wavy, scalloped surface. Smooth gray shading defines intersecting rectangles and curves. Small initials and a year mark the lower right.

Still Life with Bottle

1923

Fernand Léger

(French, 1881–1955)
France
graphite on tan wove paper
Sheet: 25.3 x 32.3 cm (9 15/16 x 12 11/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2024.30
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Fernand Léger considered drawing essential to his process and encouraged his own students to draw constantly.

Description

Influenced by Cubist artists Picasso and Braque, Fernand Léger went on to create his own distinctive variation of their style, which he called Purism. This drawing exemplifies the movement’s formal concerns, which included clear and precise lines and geometric abstraction. Still life—here a bottle, book, and candlestick, among other objects—was a preferred subject for its perceived neutrality. The objectivity of such subjects and the clean aesthetic used to present them was a response to the chaos of World War I, in which Léger served.
  • ?–2024
    (Jill Newhouse Gallery, New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    June 3, 2024–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Still Life with Bottle|url=false|author=Fernand Léger|year=1923|access-date=19 August 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.30