"Nadia Léger. Une femme d'avant-garde": an exhibition at the Musée Maillol

After exhibitions devoted to Elliott Erwitt and Andres Serrano, the Musée Maillol in Paris turns its attention to the fascinating and rich career of Nadia Khodossievitch-Léger (1904-1982). Considered one of the leading figures of twentieth-century art, Nadia Khodossievitch-Léger was a painter, magazine publisher, collaborator with her husband Fernand Léger, Resistance fighter and Communist activist. A rich life that the Musée Maillol invites us to discover from November 8, 2024 to March 23, 2025 with the exhibition " Nadia Léger. An avant-garde woman ".

With over 150 works on display on the ground, first and second floors, the Musée Maillol invites us to step back in time and immerse ourselves in the incredible and little-known life of Nadia Khodossievitch-Léger, wife of the famous painter Fernand Léger.

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Nadia Khodossievitch was born in 1904 in a small village in Belarus. After attending the École des Beaux-Arts in Warsaw in 1921, she arrived in Paris in 1925 and joined the Académie Moderne, then directed by Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant. Only a year later, she took part in the Atelier Fernand Léger exhibition at the Académie moderne. From then on, the artist's exhibitions multiplied, and her pictorial work evolved considerably as she came into contact with the avant-gardes of her time. Initially inspired by Cubism and Purism, the artist later moved closer to Suprematism and then Realism.

Behind the artist, there's also a deeply committed woman. She joined the Communist Party in 1933, and soon after produced her first committed works, such as her famous"Self-Portrait with Red Flag" (1936). During the Occupation, Nadia Khodossievitch joined the Resistance. After the Liberation, she decided to put her talent at the service of the PCF.

From November 8, 2024 to March 23, 2025, immerse yourself in the artistic life of Nadia Khodossievitch-Léger, with this major retrospective at the Musée Maillol. It's an opportunity to discover never-before-seen dialogues with works by Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso and several students of the Atelier Léger, including Nicolas de Staël, Hans Hartung and Marcelle Cahn.