Georges Bauquier (1910-1997) - Composition

Original drawing by Georges Bauquier (1910-1997), executed in black pencil / graphite on paper, measuring 29 × 24 cm.

The work depicts an imposing organic form with nested volumes, built up by remarkable work of extremely tight hatching. The variations in line density create shadows and reliefs and give the composition a real sense of volume. The drawing thus oscillates between figuration and abstraction, in a language characteristic of modern art research around the simplification and construction of forms.

The work has the peculiarity of bearing the inscription/signature “F. LEGER” directly on the sheet. The drawing has been identified as by Georges Bauquier by Irus Hansma. Bauquier, having been a pupil and then close collaborator of Fernand Léger, this inscription must be understood in the context of his apprenticeship and his work with Léger. It is therefore not presented here as a work by Fernand Léger.

Georges Bauquier (1910-1997) was a French painter closely linked to Fernand Léger. After his training at the Beaux-Arts, in the 1930s he joined Léger’s school, where he became his pupil and then his assistant. After Fernand Léger’s death in 1955, Bauquier worked alongside Nadia Léger in preserving and documenting his work. He notably participated in the creation of the Fernand Léger Museum in Biot and became one of the leading specialists of his oeuvre.

The identification of the drawing is due to Irus Hansma, specialist in Léger’s work. Since the 1980s she has worked on the Catalogue raisonné of Fernand Léger’s painted œuvre, undertaken by Georges Bauquier, and has continued significant research and documentation devoted to Léger and his work.

Artist: Georges Bauquier (1910-1997)
Technique: black pencil / graphite on paper
Dimensions: 29 × 24 cm
Inscription/signature: “F. LEGER”
Identification: Irus Hansma
Style: modern art – abstract figuration

The work is currently presented under glass with matting and framing. The photographs allow precise appreciation of the technique, the inscription, as well as the state of preservation and are an integral part of the description.

A drawing particularly interesting for its history and its direct link with Fernand Léger’s workshop and teaching, as well as for the identification to Georges Bauquier given by Irus Hansma.