The Acrobat and his Partner

The acrobat and his painter is an oil painting on canvas done by Fernand Leger, a French artist, in 1948. In this painting, the artist depicts two acrobats.

The male acrobat on the right side of the painting appears to be in an unnatural position, seemingly hanging from the air in a twisted pose while holding a yellow flower. On the opposite side is a woman with long plaited hair hanging from one of her shoulders and dressed in a white tucked skirt and a sleeveless blouse which is purple in colour. Apart from that, she is clasping onto a white ladder on her left shoulder which slants across her body.

Leger's work largely preferred the use of primary colours which the artwork bears in the background directly behind the hanging acrobat, spiral bands with lively shades of white, blue, yellow and red. Equally conspicuous is a grey cat motionlessly seated on a chair on the bottom-right of the composition staring forwards just like the two acrobats. Additionally, all corners of the artwork have solid objects and a green band which weaves through the objects from the right to the left side of the composition. The French artist believed, the more contrasts a painting has, the stronger its message is relayed. The acrobat on the right represents an object in motion while the female acrobat on the left, the cat and the chair are static objects. The two contrasting features depict Leger's idea on contrast.

The acrobat and the partner depict Fernand Leger style of painting which is popularly known as ‘tubism’ which the use of tubular shapes contrary to his predecessors who used cubes. Leger's work involved the presenting paintings in a three-dimension form and use of machine-like object perhaps due to his study of architecture. From a tender age, Fernand Leger was mesmerized by the circus whenever they passed through his native place in France.

This could be the inspiration behind this artwork which is circus-themed especially artists that he looked up to, such as Pablo Picasso, regarded the circus as a place where culture, music and performing arts can be obtained by many. Apart from the acrobat and his partner, leger has done other paintings with a similar theme. These include the acrobats in the circus (1918); Marie the acrobat (1936) and the great parade (1954). Currently, the composition can be found at the Tate Modern Art Gallery, London – England.