Artist profile: Fernand Léger
(Artdaily.org)

Although Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque pioneered the early-20th-century Cubism movement, it was the actions of the Section d’Or - also known as the Puteaux Group - in 1911 which brought the movement to the attention of the general public. Amongst this group of artists was the 30-year-old Fernand Léger, who would later also play a crucial role in the Pop Art movement. Born in 1881, Léger was raised in Argentan, Normandy by a herdsman father. After working as an apprentice architect for a few years in Caen, the 19-year-old Léger moved to Paris to further his career. A brief period of artistic stagnancy followed, enforced by military service in Versailles from 1902 to 1903. Léger then returned to the capital to apply for a place at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts; with his application to the school rejected, the young aspiring artist took classes as an unenrolled student whilst studying at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and the private Académie Julian.