Product Description:
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier (1887–1965), influenced the design, function, and construction of office and residential buildings as well as twentieth-century art and design. However, there has not yet been an extensive, precise examination of his role as an artist. For more than five decades, Le Corbusier oscillated between contradictory poles: his dedication to mechanical objects on the one hand, and his search for poetic form on the other. The mutual inspiration stemming from aesthetic versus creative took place in his “secret laboratory,” the artist’s studio. This is the first publication to consolidate all of the facets of his oeuvre, and it arrives at new approaches toward understanding his paintings, drawings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, architectural sketches and plans, as well as his books and photographs. The book’s five chapters cover a wide spectrum, ranging from the purist paintings and early villas to Le Corbusier’s reinterpretation of values and his late works. Exhibition schedule: Moderna Museet, Stockholm, January 19–April 18, 2013
Review:
While it has long been known that Le Corbusier painted in the morning and tended to his architectural practice in the afternoon, the relationship between the two has never been examined in the kind of depth that editors Cohen and Ahrenberg bring to bear in this fascinating collection of essays. Cohen's opening survey of Le Corbusier's career is exemplary of the genre and sparkles with insights. Bruno Reichlin and Genevieve Hendricks decipher the architect's purist and postpurist paintings, respectively, in terms of their relationship to Le Corbusier's architecture. Additional essays by Johan Linton, Pascal Mory, and Catherine Dumont d' Ayot are concerned, also respectively, with Le Corbusier's unrealized plan for Stockholm, his numerous museum projects, and his exhibition pavilions for Heidi Weber in Zurich and Theodor Ahrenberg in Stockholm. The "secret laboratory" is the painting studio in Paris where the architect germinated many of his ideas. Lavishly illustrated with photographs and Le Corbusier's drawings and brilliant paintings, this book significantly expands reader's appreciation of Le Corbusier's boundless creative production. Summing up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners.--J. Quinan "Choice "
This book is the ultimate Corbu reader and crash course for enthusiasts and novices alike.--Miguel Figueroa "PIN-UP "
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