Model for the mosaic of the Church of Our Lady of All Graces 1947

This is a model for the mosaic of the Church of Our Lady of All Graces, by Fernand Léger. You can see it today in the Musee National Fernand Leger in France. Léger makes a church that looks like an arrangement of heraldic shields – almost like a deck of cards that has been fanned out to reveal all the suits. He divides up the picture plane with flat, bold colours, with the faintest hint of modelling. The brushstrokes are barely visible, lending the composition a strangely illustrative quality. The colour is thin, and you can see the ground beneath in several places. It’s a bit like a giant cartoon, but it's still a painting. I love the way Léger has taken the symbolic language of heraldry and religious iconography, but in a way that anticipates Pop Art, opening itself up to multiple interpretations. It reminds me a bit of Stuart Davis; both artists were great at flattening and cropping perspective to give you only what you need.