Le Corbusier

Overview

^{I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies.}

With a versatile career in architecture, art, and design spanning over five decades, Le Corbusier is regarded as a key figure in the creative facets of modernism.

Biography

Born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, Le Corbusier (6 October 1887 – 27 August 1965) is widely acclaimed as the most influential architect of the 20th century. From private villas to mass social housing projects, his radical ideas, designs, and writings presented a whole-scale reinvention not only of individual structures but of entire concepts of modern living. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, and he designed buildings in Europe, Japan, India, and North and South America.

Like his contemporaries Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier lacked formal training...

Like his contemporaries Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier lacked formal training as an architect. He was attracted to the visual arts; at the age of fifteen, he entered the municipal art school in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, which taught the applied arts connected with watchmaking. Three years later, he attended the higher course of decoration, founded by the painter Charles L’Eplattenier, who had studied in Budapest and Paris. Le Corbusier wrote later that L’Eplattenier had made him “a man of the woods” and taught him painting from nature.

Le Corbusier's paintings started shortly after he moved to Paris in 1917. The following year, he met Amédée Ozenfant, a French painter related to the cubist movement in art. Pablo Picasso was a pioneer of that artistic trend, based on geometrized figures, almost to the point of becoming abstract objects.

Until 1920, Le Corbusier used his birth name Charles-Edouard Jeanneret but decided to adopt his famous pseudonym that year in a search for reinventing himself.

Le Corbusier and Ozenfant together defined a new movement in art, which they called purism and also established L'Esprit Nouveau (The New Spirit), an art magazine published from 1920 until 1925 that they used to promote their art. Purist art was an interpretation of cubism and stated that art admitted all deformations of the objects and consisted on the conception of pure elements. Purism also believed that the search for nature shouldn't mean copying it.

During the years of L'Esprit Nouveau, most of Le Corbusier's paintings followed the ideas of purism. The motifs were usually still lives (artistic compositions of different inanimate objects like flowers, food, and man-made objects) and representations of single inanimate objects. He painted ordinary objects disposed of ornaments in what he considered their purest form and commonly used oil on canvas for his work.

Le Corbusier died of a heart attack at age 77 in 1965 after swimming at the French Riviera. Le Corbusier designed an art gallery beside the lake in Zürich for gallery owner Heidi Weber in 1962–1967. Now called the Centre Le Corbusier, it is one of his last finished works.

Works

Le Corbusier
Taureau XV, 1961
Collage de papiers gouachés, gouache et crayon Conté partiellement lavé sur papier
102.4 x 73 cm
40 1/4 x 28 3/4 in
framed: 124 x 95 x 4 cm

Le Corbusier
Les Dés sont jetés, 1959
collage on paper
31 x 50,5 cm
12 1/4 x 19 7/8 in
framing dimensions: 54 x 73 cm

Le Corbusier
Deux Dames grecques, 1959
collage on paper
34 x 51 cm
13 3/8 x 20 1/8 in
framing dimensions: 58 x 73.5 cm

Le Corbusier
Taureau Trivalent, 1958
Mine de graphite encre de Chine et collage de papier peint
43.8 x 56 cm
17 3/16 x 22 1/16 in
Framing Dimensions: 58.5 x 69 x 7 cm

Le Corbusier
Main ouverte, 1957
collage, gouache and india ink on paper
63 x 44.5 cm
24 3/4 x 17 1/2 in
framing dimensions : 87,2 x 68 x 5,4 cm

Le Corbusier
Les Dés sont jetés, 1956
Collage of gouache coloured paper, coloured papers, gouache, and China ink on laid paper
43.7 x 55.7 cm
17 1/4 x 21 7/8 in.
framed: 63 x 75 x 4 cm

Le Corbusier
Taureau, 1955
pastel and washed pastel on woven paper
56 x 43,9 cm
22 1/8 x 17 1/4 in
Framing dimensions: 76 x 64 x 8 cm

Le Corbusier
Corde et verres, 1954
newspaper collage, gouache, and charcoal on paper
48 x 62,5 cm
18 7/8 x 24 5/8 in
framing dimensions : 85 x 71,2 x 8 cm

Le Corbusier
Main ouverte - Projet pour le monument de Chandigarh, 1954
Gouache (or casein) on paper
51 x 66 cm
20 1/16 x 25 15/16 in
Framing Dimensions: 73 x 88 x 5 cm

Le Corbusier
Nature morte, 1953
pastel, washed pastel, and graphite on paper
23,9 x 35 cm
9 3/8 x 13 3/4 in
Framing dimensions: 41 x 51,5 x 8 cm

Le Corbusier
Deux Femmes autour d'un compotier et de deux tasses, 1952
oil pastel and graphite on lined fine woven paper
32,8 x 43,2 cm
12 7/8 x 17 1/8 in
Framing dimensions: 52 x 62 x 8 cm

Le Corbusier
Main ouverte - pré-projet pour le monument de Chandigarh, 1952
Gouache et craie noire sur papier vélin
73 x 55 cm
28 3/4 x 21 5/8 in
framed: 96 x 78 x 4 cm

Le Corbusier
Les îles sont des corps de femmes immergés dans la mer qui accueillent les bateaux entre leurs bras, 1951
pastel on paper
45 x 55 cm
17 3/4 x 21 5/8 in

Le Corbusier
Deux Femmes enlacées sur une jetée, avec une barque dans le lointain, 1949
Collage of pieces of gouache paper, and black gouache (or casein)
55,8 x 44 cm
21 15/16 x 17 5/16 in
framing dimensions: 78 x 66 x 5 cm

Le Corbusier
Opus 5, 1948-1952
chisel and aquatint on copper drawn in black with a slight background tone, printed in black on cream BFK de Rives vellum
11,8 x 15,8 cm
4 5/8 x 6 1/4 in
Framing dimensions: 39,5 x 34,4 cm

Le Corbusier
Bouteilles et verres, 1944
oil on plywood panel
33 x 22 cm
12 15/16 x 8 10/16 in
framing dimensions: 41 x 3 x 4 cm

Le Corbusier
Deux Femmes au Piquey, 1935
washed pastel, ink and graphite lines on thin woven paper mounted on strong vellum
20,8 x 31 cm
8 1/4 x 12 1/4 in
Framing dimensions: 40,4 x 50,4 x 8 cm

Le Corbusier
Nature morte verticale, violon, boîte à violon, bouteilles, verres, 1922
colored chalk, pastel, and graphite on laid paper
26,3 x 19 cm (subject); 36,9 x 25,4 cm (paper)
framing dimensions: 58,3 x 46 cm

Le Corbusier
Taureau XV, 1961
Collage de papiers gouachés, gouache et crayon Conté partiellement lavé sur papier
102.4 x 73 cm
40 1/4 x 28 3/4 in
framed: 124 x 95 x 4 cm
Le Corbusier
Les Dés sont jetés, 1959
collage on paper
31 x 50,5 cm
12 1/4 x 19 7/8 in
framing dimensions: 54 x 73 cm
Le Corbusier
Deux Dames grecques, 1959
collage on paper
34 x 51 cm
13 3/8 x 20 1/8 in
framing dimensions: 58 x 73.5 cm
Le Corbusier
Taureau Trivalent, 1958
Mine de graphite encre de Chine et collage de papier peint
43.8 x 56 cm
17 3/16 x 22 1/16 in
Framing Dimensions: 58.5 x 69 x 7 cm
Le Corbusier
Main ouverte, 1957
collage, gouache and india ink on paper
63 x 44.5 cm
24 3/4 x 17 1/2 in
framing dimensions : 87,2 x 68 x 5,4 cm
Le Corbusier
Les Dés sont jetés, 1956
Collage of gouache coloured paper, coloured papers, gouache, and China ink on laid paper
43.7 x 55.7 cm
17 1/4 x 21 7/8 in.
framed: 63 x 75 x 4 cm
Le Corbusier
Taureau, 1955
pastel and washed pastel on woven paper
56 x 43,9 cm
22 1/8 x 17 1/4 in
Framing dimensions: 76 x 64 x 8 cm
Le Corbusier
Corde et verres, 1954
newspaper collage, gouache, and charcoal on paper
48 x 62,5 cm
18 7/8 x 24 5/8 in
framing dimensions : 85 x 71,2 x 8 cm
Le Corbusier
Main ouverte - Projet pour le monument de Chandigarh, 1954
Gouache (or casein) on paper
51 x 66 cm
20 1/16 x 25 15/16 in
Framing Dimensions: 73 x 88 x 5 cm
Le Corbusier
Nature morte, 1953
pastel, washed pastel, and graphite on paper
23,9 x 35 cm
9 3/8 x 13 3/4 in
Framing dimensions: 41 x 51,5 x 8 cm
Le Corbusier
Deux Femmes autour d'un compotier et de deux tasses, 1952
oil pastel and graphite on lined fine woven paper
32,8 x 43,2 cm
12 7/8 x 17 1/8 in
Framing dimensions: 52 x 62 x 8 cm
Le Corbusier
Main ouverte - pré-projet pour le monument de Chandigarh, 1952
Gouache et craie noire sur papier vélin
73 x 55 cm
28 3/4 x 21 5/8 in
framed: 96 x 78 x 4 cm
Le Corbusier
Les îles sont des corps de femmes immergés dans la mer qui accueillent les bateaux entre leurs bras, 1951
pastel on paper
45 x 55 cm
17 3/4 x 21 5/8 in
Le Corbusier
Deux Femmes enlacées sur une jetée, avec une barque dans le lointain, 1949
Collage of pieces of gouache paper, and black gouache (or casein)
55,8 x 44 cm
21 15/16 x 17 5/16 in
framing dimensions: 78 x 66 x 5 cm
Le Corbusier
Opus 5, 1948-1952
chisel and aquatint on copper drawn in black with a slight background tone, printed in black on cream BFK de Rives vellum
11,8 x 15,8 cm
4 5/8 x 6 1/4 in
Framing dimensions: 39,5 x 34,4 cm
Le Corbusier
Bouteilles et verres, 1944
oil on plywood panel
33 x 22 cm
12 15/16 x 8 10/16 in
framing dimensions: 41 x 3 x 4 cm
Le Corbusier
Deux Femmes au Piquey, 1935
washed pastel, ink and graphite lines on thin woven paper mounted on strong vellum
20,8 x 31 cm
8 1/4 x 12 1/4 in
Framing dimensions: 40,4 x 50,4 x 8 cm
Le Corbusier
Nature morte verticale, violon, boîte à violon, bouteilles, verres, 1922
colored chalk, pastel, and graphite on laid paper
26,3 x 19 cm (subject); 36,9 x 25,4 cm (paper)
framing dimensions: 58,3 x 46 cm