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Le Corbusier

Page 93

by Nicholas Fox Weber


  13. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 23.

  14. R1-07-176, death announcement for Le Corbusier’s mother, February 15, 1960.

  15. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 24.

  16. Gauthier, Le Corbusier ou l’architecture au service de l’homme, p. 17.

  17. Ibid., pp. 17–18.

  18. Le Corbusier, “Confession,” in L’Art décoratif d’aujourd’hui (Paris: Authod, 1981), p. 198.

  19. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 24.

  20. Ibid., p. 198.

  21. Gauthier, Le Corbusier ou l’architecture au service de l’homme, p. 16.

  22. Ibid., p. 17.

  23. Brooks, Le Corbusier’s Formative Years, p. 12.

  24. Ibid., p. 13.

  25. Gauthier, Le Corbusier ou l’architecture au service de l’homme, p. 17.

  26. Brooks, Le Corbusier’s Formative Years, p. 15.

  27. Ibid., p. 21.

  28. Gauthier, Le Corbusier ou l’architecture au service de l’homme, p. 18.

  29. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 24.

  30. Ibid., p. 25.

  31. Ibid., pp. 25, 28.

  32. Owen Jones, The Grammar of Ornament (London: Day and Son, 1856).

  33. Ibid., p. 156.

  34. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 135.

  35. Jean Petit, Le Corbusier parle (Lugano: Jean Petit et Fidia Edizione d’Arte, 1996), p. 11.

  36. Brooks, Le Corbusier’s Formative Years, p. 18.

  37. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 28.

  38. Le Corbusier, Oeuvre complète, vol. 8, p. 134.

  39. John Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture (Boston: Frederick J. Quinby Company, n.d.), p. 14.

  40. Ibid., p. 15.

  41. Ibid., p. 190.

  42. R1-2-118, journal of Georges Edouard Jeanneret.

  43. Brooks, Le Corbusier’s Formative Years, p. 91.

  CHAPTER III

  1. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 28.

  2. John Ruskin, Les matins à Florence, simple étude d’art chrétien (Paris: H. Laurens, 1906).

  3. R1-4-1, letter to parents, September 5, 1907, Florence.

  4. Ibid.

  5. E-2-12-6 to 9, letter to L’Eplattenier, September 19, 1907, Florence.

  6. Ibid.

  7. R1-4-1, letter to parents, September 5, 1907, Florence.

  8. Ibid.

  9. E2-2-6 to 9, letter to L’Eplattenier, September 19, 1907, Florence.

  10. R1-4-14 to 17, letter to parents, September 23, 1907, Florence.

  11. R1-4-23 to 24, letter to parents, October 8, 1907, Florence.

  12. Ibid.

  13. R1-4-2, letter to parents, September 14, 1907, Florence.

  14. R1-4-14 to 17, letter to parents, September 23, 1907, Florence.

  15. E2-12-8, letter to L’Eplattenier, September 19, 1907, Florence.

  16. E2-12-10, letter to L’Eplattenier, September 21, 1907, Florence.

  17. Ibid.

  18. R1-4-14 to 17, letter to parents, September 23, 1907, Florence.

  19. R1-4-18 to 25, letter to parents, October 8, 1907, Florence.

  20. R1-4-17, letter to parents, September 23, 1907, Florence.

  21. E2-12-9, letter to L’Eplattenier, September 19, 1907, Florence.

  22. Ibid.

  23. R1-4-14, letter to parents, September 23, 1907, Florence.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Ibid.

  26. E2-12-9, letter to L’Eplattenier, September 19, 1907, Florence.

  27. Ibid.

  28. Le Corbusier, “Une cellule à l’échelle humaine,” in Précisions sur un état présent de l’architecture et de l’urbanisme (Paris: Crès, 1930), pp. 91–92.

  29. Le Corbusier, Le Modulor, Essai sur une mesure harmonique à l’échelle humaine applicable universellement à l’architecture et à la mécanique (Boulogne-sur-Seine: Editions de l’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, 1950), p. 27.

  30. “Atelier de bâtisseurs Le Corbusier. L’unité d’Habitation de Marseille,” Le Point 38, November 1950, p. 30, fig. 37: “Une résurrection: Croquis de jeunesse de L.-C en 1907 à la Chartreuse d’Ema (Toscane).”

  31. R1-4-10 to 13, letter to parents, September 14, 1907, Florence.

  32. R1-4-2, postcard to parents, September 14, 1907, Florence.

  33. R1-4-3, letter to parents, September 24, 1907, Florence.

  34. R1-4-10 to 13, letter to parents, September 14, 1907, Florence.

  35. Ibid.

  36. R1-4-26 to 31, letter to parents, October 24, 1907, Padua, mailed in Venice.

  37. Ibid.

  38. E2-12-12, letter to L’Eplattenier, November 1, 1907, Venice.

  39. Ibid.

  40. R1-4-34 to 36, letter to parents, November 16, 1907, Vienna.

  41. Ibid.

  42. R1-4-26 to 31, letter to parents, October 24, 1907, Venice.

  43. R1-4-7, letter to parents, November 1, 1907, Venice.

  44. Ibid.

  CHAPTER IV

  1. R1-4-35, letter to parents, November 17, 1907, Vienna.

  2. Ibid.

  3. E2-12-17, postcard to L’Eplattenier, November 17, 1907, Vienna.

  4. E2-12-26, letter to L’Eplattenier, February 29, 1908, Vienna.

  5. R1-4-35, letter to parents, November 17, 1907, Vienna.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Ibid.

  8. R1-4-98 to 109, letter to parents, March 8, 1908, Vienna.

  9. R-4-42 to 51, letter to parents, December 5, 1907, Vienna.

  10. Ibid.

  11. R1-4-98 to 109, letter to parents, March 8, 1908, Vienna.

  12. Ibid.

  13. R1-4-63 to 74, letter to parents, January 7, 1908, Vienna.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid.

  19. R1-4-98 to 109, letter to parents, March 8, 1908, Vienna.

  20. R1-4-42 to 51, letter to parents, December 5, 1907, Vienna.

  21. R1-4-98 to 109, letter to parents, March 8, 1908, Vienna.

  CHAPTER V

  1. E2-12-28, letter to L’Eplattenier, February 19, 1908, Vienna.

  2. E2-12-29, letter to L’Eplattenier, March 1, 1908, Vienna.

  3. R1-4-98 to 109, letter to parents, August 3, 1908, Vienna.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Gauthier, Le Corbusier ou l’architecture au service de l’homme, p. 24.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid., p. 25.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Ibid., p. 27.

  11. Ibid., p. 28.

  12. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 30.

  13. Ibid., pp. 30–31.

  14. Ibid., p. 32.

  15. E2-12-34 to 36, letter to L’Eplattenier, July 3, 1908, Paris.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid.

  19. E2-12-38 to 50, letter to L’Eplattenier, November 22 and 25, 1908, Paris.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 33.

  22. E2-12-38 to 50, letter to L’Eplattenier, November 22 and 25, 1908, Paris.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Ibid.

  26. E2-12-51 to 52, letter to L’Eplattenier, July 22, 1908, Paris.

  27. Ernest Renan, Vie de Jésus (Paris: Calman-Lévy, 1906), from Le Corbusier’s personal library.

  28. Paul V. Turner, La Formation de Le Corbusier: Idéalisme et mouvement moderne (Paris: Macula, 1987).

  29. Renan, Vie de Jésus, pp. 132, 123, 127.

  30. Ibid., pp. 126, 301.

  31. Diary of Georges-Edouard Jeanneret, May 12, 1908.

  32. Ibid., January 9, 1909.

  33. Ibid.

  34. R1-4-129 to 136, letter to parents from Albert and Charles-Edouard, September 9, 1909, Paris.

  35. Ibid.

  36. R1-4-137 to 144, letter to parents, November 8, 1909, Paris.

  CHAPTER VI

  1. R1-5-8 to 11, letter to parents, April 10, 1910, Munich.


  2. R1-5-12 to 17, letter to parents, May 16, 1910, Munich.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, Etude sur le mouvement d’art décoratif en Allemagne (La Chaux-de-Fonds: Hac Fli & Cie, 1912; rpt. New York: Da Capo Press, 1968).

  5. I am grateful to H. A. Brooks’s careful discussion of this manuscript in Le Corbusier’s Formative Years.

  6. Le Corbusier, Urbanisme (Paris: Crès, 1924).

  7. R1-5-68, letter to parents, October 20, 1910, Berlin.

  8. R3-18-1 to 3, letter to Ritter, June 17, 1910, Berlin.

  9. R1-5-38 to 49, letter to parents, November 11, 1910, Berlin–Neu-Babelsberg.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ibid.

  12. E2-12-54 to 59, letter to L’Eplattenier, January 16, 1911, Berlin.

  13. R1-5-38 to 49, letter to parents, November 11, 1910, Berlin–Neu-Babelsberg.

  14. R1-5-50 to 57, letter to parents, December 2, 1910, Berlin.

  15. R3-18-28 to 40, letter to Ritter, December 28, 1910, Berlin–Neu-Babelsberg.

  16. Ibid.

  17. R1-5-38 to 49, letter to parents, November 11, 1910, Berlin–Neu-Babelsberg.

  18. R3-18-27, postcard to Ritter, December 14, 1910, Berlin–Neu-Babelsberg.

  19. Ibid.

  20. R3-18-28 to 40, letter to Ritter, December 28, 1910, Berlin–Neu-Babelsberg.

  21. R3-18-52 to 56, letter to Ritter, December 17, 1910, Berlin–Neu-Babelsberg.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 38 (January 4, 1911, Berlin).

  24. R3-18-28 to 40, letter to Ritter, January 1, 1911, Berlin–Neu-Babelsberg.

  25. E2-12-57, letter to L’Eplattenier, January 16, 1911, Berlin.

  26. R3-18-4 to 7, letter to Ritter, June 21, 1910, Berlin.

  27. E2-12-57, letter to L’Eplattenier, January 16, 1911, Berlin.

  28. R3-18-59 to 69, letter to Ritter, March 1, 1911, Berlin–Neu-Babelsberg.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Ibid.

  31. Ibid.

  CHAPTER VII

  1. Le Corbusier, Journey to the East, edited and annotated by Ivan Zaknic, translated by Ivan Zaknic in collaboration with Nicole Pertuiset (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1987), p. 26.

  2. Ibid., pp. 36–39.

  3. Balkrishna Doshi, “Le Corbusier’s Work: A Personal Reading,” paper presented at conference celebrating Chandigarh, January 1999, p. 5.

  4. R3-18-82 to 92, letter to Ritter, May 30, 1911, boat to Belgrade.

  5. Le Corbusier, Journey to the East, p. 23.

  6. Ibid.

  7. R3-18-93 to 102, letter to Ritter, July 5, 1911, Pera.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Ibid.

  10. I am grateful to Eve Tribouillet-Rosenczweig for this idea.

  11. R3-18-93 to 102, letter to Ritter, July 5, 1911, Pera.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Brooks, Le Corbusier’s Formative Years, p. 262.

  16. Ibid.

  17. R1-5-82, postcard to father, August 12, 1911, Constantinople.

  18. Le Corbusier, Journey to the East, p. 153.

  19. Ibid., p. 154.

  20. Ibid., p. 156.

  21. Ibid., p. 157.

  22. Ibid.

  CHAPTER VIII

  1. Edith Wharton, The Cruise of the Vanadis, excerpted in “A Pilgrim’s Progress,” The Guardian, August 7, 1904.

  2. Le Corbusier, Journey to the East, pp. 173, 174.

  3. Ibid., p. 174.

  4. Ibid., pp. 176–77.

  5. Ibid., p. 179.

  6. Ibid., p. 180.

  7. Ibid., p. 184.

  8. R3-18-106 to 115, letter to Ritter, September 10, 1911, Athens–Mount Athos.

  9. Le Corbusier, Journey to the East, pp. 192, 193.

  10. Ibid., p. 193.

  11. Ibid., p. 195.

  12. Ibid., p. 208.

  13. R1-18-107, letter to Ritter, September 10, 1911, St. Giorgio.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Petit, Le Corbusier parle, p. 10.

  16. Le Corbusier, Journey to the East, p. 216.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid., p. 220.

  19. Ibid., pp. 211–12.

  20. Ibid., pp. 236, 235.

  21. E2-12-96, letter to L’Eplattenier, October 15, 1911, Rome.

  22. R1-5-85, letter to parents, September 27, 1911, Athens.

  23. Ibid.

  24. R1-5-88 to 91, letter to parents, October 15, 1911, Rome.

  25. R1-5-87, letter to parents, October 15, 1911, Rome.

  26. E2-12-96, letter to L’Eplattenier, October 15, 1911, Rome.

  CHAPTER IX

  1. R3-18-120 to 121, letter to Ritter, October 25, 1911, Florence.

  2. R3-18-128 to 143, letter to Ritter, November 1, 1911, written in Pisa and on train back to Switzerland, subsequently mailed from La Chauxde-Fonds.

  3. R3-18-145 to 160, letter to Ritter, December 15, 1911, La Chaux-de Fonds.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Ibid.

  7. R3-18-120 to 121, letter to Ritter, November 25, 1911, Florence.

  8. Ibid.

  9. R3-18-161 to 162, letter to Ritter, February 2, 1912, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  10. R3-18-145 to 160, letter to Ritter, December 15, 1911, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  11. R3-18-163 to 170, letter to Ritter, March 8, 1912, written on board train to Zurich and mailed from La Chauxde-Fonds.

  12. Ibid.

  13. R3-18-186 to 188, letter to Ritter, May 27, 1912, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  14. R3-18-192 to 196, letter to Ritter, June 24, 1912, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  15. R3-18-197 to 205, letter to Ritter, August 4, 1912, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Ibid.

  22. R3-18-210 to 217, letter to Ritter, October 15, 1912, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  23. Ibid.

  24. R3-18-197 to 205, letter to Ritter, August 4, 1912, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  25. E2-6-152 to 153, letter to Auguste Klipstein, August 20, 1912, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  26. Jeanneret, Etude sur le mouvement d’art décoratif en Allemagne. See also Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, p. 44.

  27. R3-18-220 to 232, letter to Ritter, November 17, 1912, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  28. Ibid.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Ibid.

  31. R3-18-241, letter to Ritter, January 2, 1913, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  32. R3-18-265 to 273, letter to Ritter, May 9, 1913, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Brooks, Le Corbusier’s Formative Years, p. 311.

  CHAPTER X

  1. R3-18-357 to 361, letter to Ritter, September 22, 1914, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Paul V. Turner deserves credit for pointing this out. See his La Formation de Le Corbusier, p. 124.

  5. R3-18-368 to 372, letter to Ritter, October 9, 1914, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  6. R3-18-376, letter to Ritter, November 12, 1914, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  7. R3-18-378, postcard to Ritter, November 28, 1914, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  8. R3-18-380 to 381, postcard to Ritter, December 9, 1914, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  9. R3-18-426 to 430, letter to Ritter, June 8, 1915, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  10. “Premier pas dans une demeure,” ibid.

  11. R3-18-431 to 459, letter to Ritter, June 9, 1915, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  12. Ibid.

  13. R3-18-243 to 251, letter to Ritter, January 14, 1913, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  14. R3-18-431 to 459, letter to Ritter, June 9, 1915, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Ibid.

  22. R3-18-474 to 475, letter to Ritter, July 28, 1915, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  23. R3-18-4
76 to 478, postcard to Ritter, August 12, 1915, Paris.

  24. R3-18-479, postcard to Ritter, August 21, 1915, Paris.

  25. R3-18-480 to 481, postcard to Ritter, September 7, 1915, Paris.

  26. Ibid.

  CHAPTER XI

  1. R3-19-103 to 112, letter to Ritter, January 13, 1917, sent from Bern, written aboard a train to Paris and describing events from August 1915.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Ibid.

  11. R3-19-18 to 21, letter to Ritter, March 22, 1916, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Ibid.

  14. R3-19-26 to 30, letter to Ritter, April 29, 1916, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Ibid.

  25. R3-19-57 to 59, letter to Ritter, August 16, 1916, La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  26. Ibid.

  CHAPTER XII

  1. Gauthier, Le Corbusier ou l’architecture au service de l’homme, p. 39.

  2. R3-19-113, letter to Ritter, January 26, 1917, Paris.

  3. R3-19-122, letter to Ritter, February 19, 1917, Paris.

  4. Joyce Lowman, “Le Corbusier, 1910–1925: The Years of Transition,” Ph.D. diss., University of London, 1981, p. 92. Lowman acquired this information from a 1975 interview with Max Du Bois.

  5. R3-19-122, letter to Ritter, February 19, 1917, Paris.

  6. Ibid.

  7. R3-19-153 to 159, letter to Ritter, July 1, 1917, Paris.

  8. R3-19-145 to 150, letter to Ritter, May 3, 1917, Paris.

  9. R3-19-214 to 218, letter to Ritter, March 14, 1918, Paris.

  10. R3-19-194 to 213, letter to Ritter, January 27, 1918, Paris.

  11. R3-19-214 to 219, letter to Ritter, March 14, 1918, Paris; diary for March 7, 1918.

  12. R3-19-214 to 218, letter to Ritter, March 14, 1918, Paris.

  13. R1-6-19 to 21, letter to parents, March 16, 1918, Paris.

  14. R3-19-231 to 244, letter to Ritter, April 30, 1918, Paris; diary for Easter Monday, April 1, 1918.

  15. Ibid.

  16. R3-19-143 to 144, postcard to Ritter, April 30, 1917, Chartres.

  17. Ibid.

  18. R3-19-145 to 150, letter to Ritter, May 3, 1917, Paris.

  19. R3-19-153 to 159, July 1, 1917, Paris.

  20. R3-19-195 to 213, letter and diary to Ritter, January 31, 1918, Paris; diary of October 16, 1917.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Ibid.

  24. R3-19-185 to 188, letter to Ritter, October 31, 1917, Paris.

 

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