Museum Art Analysis: Footed Goblet By Fernand Leger

The artwork that I chose for the museum art assignment was Footed Goblet, 1924, painted by Fernand Leger. Footed Goblet is at first glance a precisely-ordered grid of rectangles and curved shapes that lie flat against the picture plane. The painting was done on a medium of oil on canvas. Looking closely, objects described in terms of basic geometric forms become visible: upon a table rests an electric light, a book, a domino, and an adjustable lamp. On the shelf sits a footed glass. The painting itself is rather angular and has many of its shapes being just straight lines filled with simple colors. There are no elaborate brush strokes, no real signs of any shading or chiaroscuro, everything is a solid color. However upon looking closer, the amount of time taken to paint this piece can be clearly seen. Each object is careful filled with its chosen color and
These differing colors that alternate around the painting help move the viewer’s eye from the focal point which is the goblet near the upper middle of the painting. The goblet is actually the only part of the painting that can be made out instantly from the rest of it. All other objects require quite a bit of time to discern from the rest of it while the silver goblet stands out immediately as it is the only object that is what it is. Even though there is no real shading in the piece, the difference in colors gives the painting a three dimensional perspective. Near the bottom, one brown is lighter than the brown beneath it and as a black line separating the two. This is what looked to be a desk in which all the items in the painting are placed upon, with the black line being the edge. Suddenly a painting that was originally just a bunch of random shapes and objects becomes a still life in a completely different style of art in a nonrepresentational