La Fin du Monde (1919)
by Fernand Leger
La Fin du Monde is a prime example of innovation and creativity. This illustrated book contains twenty two fine stencil prints(or pochoirs) designed by Fernand Leger. La Fin du Monde was originally drafted as a screenplay however was withdrawn due to lack of funding and turned into a novel written by Swiss poet Blaise Cendrars. However through Leger’s ability to create a visual sensation of time, motion and space he is able to simulate the experience of watching a film, even though in reality you are just reading a novel.
This satirical novel controversially portrays God as an anxious, cigar smoking American businessman who is incessantly trying to please Mars(the god of war) by starting a world war, which in turn will increase income despite causing mass death and destruction.
Leger’s design, illustration and pacing of the book reflect the techniques of film. The illustrations consist of heavy and mechanical typography which converges with advertising taken from advertising slogans, posters and numbers. This helps to convey the hectic pace and intensity, as well as the insanity of the story. Amongst the illustrations, Leger includes sections of Blaise Cendrars writings as boldly coloured block letters, as he was inspired by street signs and silent movie titles. Blaise Cendrars and Leger took great enjoyment in the urban environment character, especially in advertising designs which Cendrars described as “a flower of contemporary life”.
His compositions create a pulsating visual journey, that expresses Leger’s fascination in the correlation between typography and imagery. This is done by using densely layered artworks, where form and space share equal value, which combine with a contrast between black robust lettering and bright primary colours. His general concern for the impact of each individual design can be seen through the use of the bold typography of the main text, which bombards the reader with a barrage of mechanical noise.Leger drew on Cubism to formulate his own unique approach to depicting the marvels of modern industrial life. This book is in the same style, Cubist and abstract. Most illustrations have a combination of two colours from a typical selection of Art Deco.
This book was important to Leger himself, as it helped to define his ideas on mechanisation and painting. Originally a painter when his work was exhibited in 1910, Leger actually became more intrigued by design after the first world war. He later worked on murals, tapestries, costumes and film sets. He himself was an active filmmaker with works such as his Ballet mecanique from 1924.
Overall I think this La Fin du Monde is very important in the world of design, since it was way ahead of it’s time in 1919 for a designer to think of using graphic design to portray a script. This goes to show how important Fernand Leger’s designs were as without them the concept of the book wouldn’t work and it would have never got the recognition it received without them.
