Attributed to Fernand LÉGER (1881-1955) Three Graces, circa 1917-18 Repressed shell casing. (Small metal fractures). Height: 35 cm A certificate from the Comité Léger can be supplied on request and at the purchaser's expense. A certificate from Madame Irus Hansma can be supplied on request and at the purchaser's expense. Fernand Léger wrote to his friend Louis Poughon on May 30, 1915: "It is all the same a very curious war (...) It is the perfect orchestration of all the means of killing, ancient and modern. (...) It's as linear and dry as a geometry problem. So many shells in so much time on such a surface (...) It's pure abstraction, purer than Cubist painting "itself". (...) But it's long! Ah, God, it's so long. I'm starting to have more than I can carry. (Fernand Léger. Une correspondance de guerre à Louis Poughon 1914-1918, Paris, Éditions Centre Georges Pompidou, Les Cahiers du musée national d'art moderne, hors-série archives, 1990, p. 36). His correspondence with Louis Poughon bears witness to the direct impact of war on the artist: initially a source of plastic inspiration, the front soon became a place of disillusionment. The experience of the trenches, and the violence and duration of the conflict, left a lasting mark on the artist's gaze, and fueled the development of his work after 1918. This piece bears witness to Fernand Léger's plastic research in the trenches. Like many soldiers, he tried his hand at war crafts by sculpting a shell casing. But where the production of the poilus was often a naïve gesture, Léger transformed this medium into a veritable work of art. This rare object illustrates the painter's ability to pursue his formal explorations in the midst of conflict, making trench craft a field of experimentation for a great twentieth-century master.