More than one hundred years ago, Fernand Léger’s painting demonstrated a utopia (or nightmare) some still imagine today: the integration of people with technology. The figures on the lower left and middle right are barely distinguishable either from each other or from the machinery of wheels and levers. The painting’s foreground and background merge to demonstrate the codependence of humans and their tools, with Léger’s color scheme communicating optimism and energy. But the disjointed and fragmented forms equally introduce disquiet into the scene, evoking the violence of World War I, which had just ended in November 1918.
