Le Corbusier "Le Grand" ~ A Spectacular Visual Biography of his Life and Work

Wednesday, 20 August 2008 22:33

NEW YORK CITY - Using the same grandly oversized format as Warhol "Giant Size" (Phaidon, 2006), Le Corbusier Le Grand includes approximately 2,000 images and documents, many previously unpublished, featuring his major built works, urban plans, paintings, publications, and furniture as well as sketches and archival photographs. Rarely seen photographs and personal correspondences also shed new light on Le Corbusier’s relationships with Josephine Baker, Eileen Gray, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Prouvé, and many others.

The book includes an insightful introductory essay by France’s most authoritative architectural historian and critic, Jean-Louis Cohen, and incisive chapter introductions by highly regarded Le Corbusier scholar Tim Benton. A separate booklet includes translations of documents, letters and extensive annotations on his drawings, many of which have never been translated into English before.

 Drawing on an array of rarely seen archival material, including sketches, photographs and correspondences, Le Corbusier Le Grand depicts in roughly chronological order not only the vast and varied artistic output of Le Corbusier, but also the major events, people, and forces that shaped the life of an artist who continues to fascinate those in and outside the architectural world. The result is a spectacular and sumptuous visual biography of the life and work of Le Corbusier, one of Modernism's most influential architects, urban planners, and theorists.

Le Corbusier (1887-1965) was born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The self-named Le Corbusier was not only the creator of some of the most important and impressive buildings of the last century--Villa Savoye at Poissy, the Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp, the capitol complex in Chandigarh, India--he was also an accomplished painter, sculptor, furniture designer, urbanist, and author. His work and social theories continue to be a dominant force in the world of architecture and design, while his elegant bearing, typified by his round black eyeglasses, are still today a signature look for architects around the world. Le Corbusier Le Grand comes in an oversized format and luxurious binding that matches the legendary status of this “giant” of twentieth-century architecture and design.

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