Читать книгу Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists - Part 4 - Группа авторов - Страница 41

Fernand Léger first wanted to become an architect but soon turned to drawing. A part of the Parisian artistic avant-garde, he progressively began experimenting with cubism. In 1914 he was mobilized in an engineer regiment. In contrast to Georges Braque, Léger drew, wrote and painted a lot during the war and his work was deeply influenced by the conflict.

He was involved in the offensives of Argonne and Verdun. As a stretcherbearer, he was very close to human suffering and frequently witnessed violent scenes. His letters are original mainly because they address infrequent, even taboo war issues. For example, in his letter to his friend Louis Poughon (1882–1959), Léger starkly describes scavengers of dead bodies, summary executions of prisoners, the endless agonies of wounded comrades, or the assassination of an officer by his men. His letters were accompanied with many cubism drawings [Léger, 1997, p. 11].

Fig. 4. Illustration by Léger on the first page of J’ai tué (private collection).

He was not a war wounded soldier but a neurologically ill patient. During the conflict he suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, but also from a deep war neurasthenia. Léger seemed to become used to daily war horrors. Nevertheless, the cafard overcame him progressively. He tried to flee the front and asked to be transferred to the military camouflage services where a lot of his friends, such as the painter André Mare (1885–1932), had already been recruited.

Despite continuing efforts, he failed to integrate into these services. Léger’s mental condition worsened and he developed a depressive syndrome. He was evacuated to a Parisian military hospital on August 10th, 1917, and was diagnosed with the following: “rheumatic pain, nervous disorders, depression, pulmonary tuberculosis sequellae and weight loss” (Dossier Fernand Léger; Service des Archives Médicales et Hospitalières des Armées, SAMHA, Limoges, France). The diagnosis of war nervous troubles, more specifically nervous gastritis, was eventually evoked. In December 1917, he was examined by the neurologist Charles Chatelin (1884–1948) at La Salpêtrière hospital in Paris: “He examined me by tapping with a small hammer on my body. He asked me to look in all directions. One of these days, I will need to swallow a very long tube” [Léger, 1997, p. 87]. Léger was admitted to several Parisian military hospitals before his official discharge in May 1918.

The return to civilian life and the improvement of his medical condition marked the beginning of an exceptional artistic collaboration with writer Blaise Cendrars. Léger illustrated the text J’ai tué, published a few days before the armistice and reprinted in 1919 with a portrait of Cendrars (Fig. 4). The text gives an unusual and disturbing vision of war, matching Léger’s letters. Léger and Cendrars also collaborated on La Fin du Monde filmée par l’Ange N.-D, published in 1919, and on the ballet La Création du Monde, set to music by Darius Milhaud (1892–1974). Fernand Léger is the most striking counter-example to the silence of the painters during the First World War.

Having begun their painting, started their statue, glimpsed their creation, sketched their project, they left everything there to be nothing but soldiers.

Paul Ginisty, 1916