Still Life Filled with Space

<p>This still life is a prime example of Purism, a style developed in 1918 by the architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (later called Le Corbusier) and the painter <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artists/19815">Amédée Ozenfant</a> and championed in their journal, <em>L’Esprit nouveau</em> (<em>The New Spirit</em>). Promoting the elimination of the picturesque in favor of mathematical order and logic, Purist artists, including <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artists/35363">Fernand Léger</a>, sought to represent the modern, &quot;universal&quot; forms of the world—especially machine-made objects—in a precise and balanced way as part of their effort to promote a new, modern classicism. Despite the generally smooth, brushless style of Purist pictures, <em>Still Life Filled with Space</em> has an unusual amount of brushwork and texture, notably in the patterned border, which the artist made by dragging a comblike tool repeatedly through the wet white paint.</p>