Study for the Portrait "Maud Dale" 1935

Fernand Léger drew this study for the portrait "Maud Dale" with thin lines on paper; it's all about finding the essential form, getting the balance right. I bet he drew this and redrew it, searching for just the right position for the sitter, the chair, that arm slung over the back. You know, it's so simple, so bare. He's not trying to capture a likeness, more like an idea of a person in a space. What was he thinking, stripping it all back like this? Was he trying to get to the heart of something, or just playing with shapes, seeing how little he could do and still make it work? It reminds me how much drawing is thinking. Like you move the pencil and find the picture, but really the picture finds you. Léger does a lot of this kind of thing, reducing figures to these kind of geometric forms. It's like he's saying, 'here's the basic kit for a human, now you build it.' I guess we all do that, in a way, standing on the shoulders of giants, borrowing and stealing and making it new.