At the heart of that unfolding transformation is Léger’s decade-long devotion to his magnum opus, La Grande Parade (The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum) accompanied by more than one hundred preparatory studies — rehearsals really for the grand finale — that precipitated this masterwork. These studies, often fully realized works, provided the arterial sustenance that brought the project to fruition and rest upon Léger’s long and thorough process of ‘elaboration and synthesis in which “the slightest transformation was long pondered and worked up with the help of new drawing.” (Schmalenbach, Werner, Fernand Léger, London, 1991, p. 126).

Created in 1952, this large and substantive Étude Pour La Grande Parade is among the final preparatory works. It is one of his most visually stimulating works of the series that continues his dedication to all-over pictorial design with no singular focus but one which is infused and charged with more joyous dynamism and energy than usual. The arrangement of these flat, geometric color planes of green, blue, yellow and red, seemingly arranged as random swaths of color create a sense of space and movement that has an electrifying effect; one that highlights and fragments the figures in energetic relationship while also complicating any clear division between background and foreground. It is in this colorful world that an accessible arena exists in which all spectators are welcomed and can delight in the acrobats, dancers, musicians, and strongmen of Léger’s imagination. It arrives with the sincerity of a confirmed humanist, a quality that prompted Stuart Davis to observe that, ‘the essence of Léger’s work is directness.’ (“Papers of Stuart Davis 1918-1964”, Harvard Museums Archive).

The first owner of this version of Étude pour La Grande parade was artist and set designer Alexander Liberman who enjoyed a long tenure at Vogue Magazine. The work appears to be inscribed to him.