Le Corbusier

LE CORBUSIER; CHARLES ÉDOUARD JEANNERET-GRIS (Switzerland, 1887 - France, 1965).
"Violin et bôite à violin rouge" , 1920.
Mixed media on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower margin.
Measurements: 21 x 19 cm; 47 x 56 cm (frame).

Before focusing on the architectural field and becoming the key figure of the modern movement, Le Corbusier was an avant-garde painter, founder of Purism along with Ozenfant. This early period is less known to the general public but in the context of modern art his contribution to the vindication of plastic simplicity was significant. Le Corbusier established a new standard of beauty with his still lifes of bottles, cups and musical instruments. In this work, "Violin et bôite à violin rouge", he reflects his interest in reducing the forms to essential geometry and in organizing the bottles and violins with precision, also refining the chromatic choice, alternating horizontal and horizontal lines that give rise to a simple but multi-layered composition. Le Corbusier and Ozenfant considered that cubism had degenerated into decorativism and proposed to recover the purity of forms. In their manifesto they write: "The work must not be accidental, exceptional, impressionistic, inorganic or picturesque, but on the contrary, general static and expressive of the invariant."

Architectural theorist, architect, designer and painter Swiss, naturalized French, Le Corbusier is considered one of the clearest exponents of the Modern Movement in architecture, and one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He developed a new architecture based on five points that would be key to the development of this discipline from then on: the free plan, the garden-terrace, the "pilotis", the longitudinal window and the free facade. Among his most outstanding architectural projects are the Swiss Pavilion of the Cité Universitaire de Paris, the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille and the chapel of Notre Dame du Aut. in Ronchamp. As a furniture designer, Le Corbusier made his first creations with Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, obtaining the definitive impulse in the Paris Decorative Arts Exhibition of 1925. Already his first chairs and armchairs were conceived in terms of comfort, and based on anthropometric studies that guarantee a total adaptability to the body. The first design that Le Corbusier created, together with Jeanneret and Perriand, was the LC1 chair, presented in 1928 and characterized by a height-adjustable backrest that allowed the user to choose the most comfortable posture. He would continue to work along these lines, and at the 1929 Salon d'Automne du Design he presented his LC4 chaise longue, a purist and radical design that has become a classic today. Equally well known are his LC2, LC3 and LC5 designs, one-, two- and three-seater sofas designed to revolutionize the mass production of modern furniture. We must also highlight the design of stools and dining chairs, such as the LC7, presented at the 1929 Salon d'Automne or the LC8. Le Corbusier, Jeanneret and Perriand sought to design furniture for all rooms of the house, and so they created pieces like the LC9, a stool for the bathroom, very simple, with fabric seat. Le Corbusier also created other types of furniture, such as tables and shelves. His designs are currently edited by the Italian company Cassina, and are present in important collections such as the MoMA in New York or the Victoria & Albert in London.