La Rue Dantzig (from La Ville)

Fernand Leger

Two men in rubber boots, with knives at their sides, prepare for their workday at an abattoir (slaughterhouse) located on La Rue Dantzig, Paris’ longest thoroughfare. Ferdinand Leger’s subject matter by the 1950s had turned toward images of Parisian daily life drawn in loose, fluid lines and saturated colors. The portfolio “La Ville” (The City) proved to be his last major project, as he passed away before he could oversee its completion in 1955.

From Mourlot Editions: “This lithograph by Fernand Leger is from the portfolio entitled "La Ville" (The City) which consists of 29 lithographs featuring scenes of people, life and emotions of Paris. The artist had started the project in 1954 but unfortunately passed away in the summer of 1955. His wife, along with Fernand Mourlot and the publisher Teriade, assembled the rest of Leger's studies and finished plates to complete the project and it was eventually printed and released in 1959, four years after his death.