Mechanical Forms

Mechanical Forms shows a woman from the shoulders up, in near profile and facing right, with one hand covering the lower part of her face. The background is a grid of dark bands, circles, and curved elements. The drawing’s title refers to the logic of industrial order that Fernand Léger claimed for his work even when it did not directly depict machines. The highly finished Mechanical Forms is only an intermediate stage in the artist’s evolving conception of this figure, which resulted in three paintings over a span of six years.