Le Corbusier was an architect famously revered for his modern building designs. Despite the fact that he lived in an era wherein horse-drawn carriages, gaslights, and restrictive society norms, he already envisioned a future in which architecture and art can break separately from its traditionalist origins. Le Corbusier was the second son of Georges-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris a Swiss watch engraver with his wife, Marie-Charlotte-Amelie Perret whose father was also a craftsman. They married in 1883 and after three years, Marie gave birth to their eldest son named Albert in February 6 1886 (Flint xvii; Weber 22). Le Corbusier was born in October 6, 1887 as Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris (Flint x) and much of his childhood was spent in northwestern part of the Swiss county in a small village called La Chaux-de-Fonds (Flint xv, xvii; Weber 22).
His family called him as ‘Doudou’ (Flint xvii); even in his teenage years, young Doudou earned the respect of his schoolmaster in Ecole d’ Art Charles L'Eplattenier who was the first admirer of his works (Flint xviii, Weber 33). It was not difficult for L’Eplattenier to notice his pupil’s talent in art. Doudou excelled in painting and sketching. Most of his works were done using watercolors as a medium yet he masterfully combined brown and green to portray the beautiful natural scenery of Swiss forests. His teacher explained that what makes Le Corbusier's work truly astounding was due to his excellent observation of the all the things in the environment. His skill enabled him to produce still-life copies of real things; Le Corbusier primarily focused on identifying the patterns of the objects before sketching them and this made some of his work look more abstract yet the images can be discernible by the eye (Flint xviii). His style marked the rebellious phase of art and its struggle to break free from traditionalist towards the modern-contemporary styles. His hometown was the place of his first architectural works (Flint xv). L'Eplattenier recognized Doudou’s talent and advised the latter to become an architect under two conditions: enroll as an apprentice and leave home to explore the world (Flint xix). It was also because L'Eplattenier that Doudou recognized the works of notable architects such as Owen Jones; in fact his master purposely placed them in the school library so that his pupils could study them. Doudou immersed himself in Jones’ The Grammar of Ornament (1856) explaining the importance of structural symmetry in obtaining successful art. Jones’ philosophy of making art a science became the credo of Doudou’s career in architecture (Weber 34). In 1905, Doudou designed his first building named Villa Fallet (see fig. 1), a structure reserved for the Ecole d’ Art. Even without the qualifications, the design was approved and the construction for the building started in 1906 and the whole process took almost twenty-four months to complete. The house still stands within the village of La Chaux-de-Fonds (Weber 36). After thirty-three years, he used ‘Le Corbusier’ as his professional name in the 1920 based from his great-grandfather’s surname ‘Lecorbesier’ as well from the surname of Adrienne Lecouvreur, a famous French actress at that time (Flint x, xi, xvii). During his lifetime, he traveled from Europe, the Americas, and in the Orient. In fact, Celik, a Turkish scholar who studied much of Le Corbusier’s work claimed that the architect had made notes in 1911 to document his voyages in the Middle East. Hence, some of his architectures reflected the styles of the Ottomans. Among the notable structures with Islamic influences were as follows: “Villa Jeanneret-Perret (1912; see fig. 2), Villa Favre-Jacot (1912), and Villa Schwob (1916)” which Celik described as spacious, with large central halls and small adjoining halls, and unadorned walls (59). On the other hand, Le Corbusier’s artwork was in a way, a rebellion towards the traditional art of Europe. In the book Towards a New Architecture, Le Corbusier revered all architecture styles and structures which followed a scientific technique in order to build them. He purposely highlighted the importance of using geometry in terms of building construction in a sense that the architecture will be able to achieve the harmony and satisfy the audiences’ eyes by simply looking at the structure and admiring the complementing shapes of the structure. He proposed that all architects must have a good mathematical knowledge to execute these things (Le Corbusier 2). Le Corbusier was a modern man, and it was because of this mindset that he rejected the traditional styles prevalent during the Baroque period and strongly reiterated that: “The styles of Louis XIV, XV, XVI or Gothic are to architecture what a feather is on a woman’s head; it is sometimes pretty, though not always, and never anything more” (Le Corbusier 25).
Le Corbusier’s strong opposition against the decadence of the Baroque style was mainly due to the influence of the French philosopher Jean Jacques-Rosseau. According to Passanti, also a scholar of Le Corbusier’s work, the architect preferred his styles to be known as less decadent and more natural compared to his predecessors. Rosseau’s argued that a simple and universal solution becomes realistic and natural in a sense that in architecture, making simple designs and solutions will help ease the overcrowding of designs which somehow distorts the artist’s intended image of the structure. In other words, by limiting the design based on what is needed and omitting those which are not relevant, the structure can be appreciated in its truest form. Passanti also noted that Le Corbusier’s journals were filled with detailed sketches of the past architectures of the Greeks and the Romans such as the Parthenon (438-439).
Le Corbusier’s architectural style was based on geometrical patterns. His works fits into the Roaring Twenties; an era characterized by radical changes in human rights, politics, and society reforms. The majority of his buildings were suited to the new tastes of the people as well as the ballooning population. His buildings often supported by pilotis or columns became popular and noted as a modernist design. Unlike the architectural styles of the previous century, the buildings he built neither possess the decadence of many designs cramped together. Instead, his buildings showcased the purity of the classical architectures which do not have excessive ornaments on them. One example of his designs using pilotis was the Villa Savoye (see fig. 4) constructed in 1928-1931(Murphy 68) and is located in Poissy. What makes the building truly remarkable was the fact that it revolutionized the building design. Gone were the flamboyant designs, bright colors, and abstract elegance of the Baroque and the Romantic period. Instead, he used the model of Parthenon to create a building design that is simple, pleasing to the eyes, yet at the same time one that could stand the tide of Modernism. The Villa Savoye was consisted of columns of uniform sizes in order to support the entire structure. Unlike the columns of the Parthenon, the pilotis were slightly thin and was made from reinforced concrete. Clear glass panes allow the light to permeate through the whole house. The color was muted only to white, mainly to emphasize that the building was as pure as the Parthenon itself and free from corrupted ideals of the previous centuries. Le Corbusier’s work did not focused on architecture alone; he also made modern designs for furniture such as chairs, tables, and cabinets. The common denominator among in all of his works whether it is a building, a painting, or furniture was the concept of minimalism. Minimalist designs exhibited less attention towards the physical appearance of the work; instead, Le Corbusier’s advantage would be on the functionality and practicality.
In 1931, the artist worked with the new concepts for chairs. While the chairs of the previous period stuffed overcrowding designs onto the furniture, Le Corbusier’s Fauteuil Wagon Fumoir (see fig. 5) offered both practicality and comfort. Both the backrest and the seat were cushioned but the former was slightly slanted and the seat jutting forward. These features were practical and comfortable because the slanted backrest offered a chance to relax the back as well as increase the feeling of actually lying on the bed; furthermore, the jutting cushioned seat also allowed one’s feet to form a relaxed straight line. Armrests from the either side were also covered with black cushions just like the ones used for the backrest and seat. The whole structure of the chair was made from stainless steel, polished which gives an illusion of aerial buoyancy. Paintings were also one of Le Corbusier’s and this includes one of his works titled, Adieu Von (see fig. 6) consisted of combined natural and abstract imagery through the use of geometric shapes, overlapping with each other and painted with contrasting pigments. Meanwhile, Le Corbusier also worked in the field of sculpture and one of the notable figures he made was the Femme (see fig. 7) in 1953 from polychromed wood painted with different colors. The theme of the sculpture was the abstract representation of a standing woman, with exposed bosom. The figure from the heart-shaped torso as well as slightly rectangular base formed a distinct hourglass shape.
Le Corbusier died in August 1965 (Murphy 78) yet, his legacy of elevating the modern architecture and arts was definitely astounding since as a person who lived in the dawn of the 20th century, he already envisioned a future in which art and architecture became separated from the decadent past. He was the man of the future, the architect who designed buildings not for aesthetic purposes but for practicality. And even today, his concepts are still being used and studied.
WORKS CITED
Celik, Zeynep. “Le Corbusier, Orientalism, Colonialism.” Assemblage 17 (1992): 58-77. Web. JSTOR. 21 Feb. 2016.
Flint, Anthony. Modern Man: The Life of Le Corbusier Architect of Tomorrow. Boston/New York: New Harvest/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. Web. Google Book.
Le Corbusier. “Adieu Von.” 1957. Oil on Canvas. Digital Image. Fondationlecorbusier.fr, n.d; Web; 26 Feb. 2016.
Le Corbusier. “Fauteuil Wagon Fumoir.” 1931. Digital Image. Fondationlecorbusier.fr, n.d; Web; 26 Feb. 2016.
Le Corbusier. “Femme.” 1953. Polychromed wood. Digital Image. Fondationlecorbusier.fr, n.d; Web; 26 Feb. 2016.
Le Corbusier. “Hotel et palais des congress.” 1961. Digital Image. Fondationlecorbusier.fr, n.d; Web; 21 Feb. 2016.
Le Corbusier. “Villa Fallet.” 1905. Digital Image. Fondationlecorbusier.fr, n.d; Web; 21 Feb. 2016.
Le Corbusier. “Villa Jeanneret-Perret.” 1912. Digital Image. Fondationlecorbusier.fr, n.d; Web; 21 Feb. 2016.
Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. 1927. London: Butterworth Architecture, 1989. Web. Google Book.
Mckenzie, Thom. “Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, circa 1928-1931 in Poissy, France.” Digital Image. Flickr, 2008. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
Murphy, Kevin D. “The Villa Savoye and the Modernist Historic Monument.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 61.1 (2002): 68-89. Web. JSTOR. 26 Feb. 2016.
Passanti, Francesco. “The Vernacular, Modernism, and Le Corbusier.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 56.4 (1997): 438-451. Web. JSTOR. 21 Feb. 2016.
Weber, Nicholas Fox. Le Corbusier: A Life. New York/Toronto: Random House, 2008. Web. Google Book.
