Chapter title (folio 27) from La Fin du monde filmée par l'ange de N.-D. (The End of the World Filmed by the Angel of Notre Dame)

Chapter title (folio 27) from La Fin du monde filmée par l'ange de N.-D. (The End of the World Filmed by the Angel of Notre Dame) is a key component of the significant illustrated book created by Fernand Léger in 1919. This specific folio, like others in the volume, is executed using the demanding pochoir technique, a precise stencil-based printing method popular in French publishing houses of the time. The complete work features twenty-two such pochoirs, six of which also incorporate line blocks, providing a sophisticated interplay between mechanical reproduction and hand-applied color.

The choice of pochoir allowed Léger to realize the flat, unmodulated color planes and sharp, defined contours characteristic of his post-Cubist style. This era marked Léger’s full embrace of the Machine Aesthetic, focusing on geometric forms, cylinders, and bold linearity. The precision inherent in the stencil printing process perfectly complemented the artist’s dedication to depicting industrial technology and the mechanical objects he viewed as the defining elements of modern life following World War I.

Published in 1919, this illustrated book captures the volatile and transformative cultural environment of the post-war years. The title, suggesting a futuristic, apocalyptic narrative, complements Léger’s revolutionary search for a universally legible visual language rooted in engineering and architecture. This illustrated book is considered a pivotal example of avant-garde book arts. The combination of line blocks and the vibrant, manually applied color achieved through the pochoir process demonstrates Léger’s continuous experimentation with printmaking as a reproducible art form.

This folio provides essential insight into Léger’s systematic approach to color, mass, and formal structure in the immediate aftermath of the war. The complete volume resides in the prints and illustrated books collection of the Museum of Modern Art, underscoring its importance to the history of French modernism and the development of 20th-century artistic prints.