Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms

Curtis, William J. R

ISBN 10: 0847807266 / ISBN 13: 9780847807260

Published by Rizzoli, New York, 1986

About this Item

Dust Jacket Condition: As New. 240 pp, preface, Introduction: Notes on Invention; Part I. The Formative Years of Charles Edouard Jeanneret, 1887-1922; Part II. Architectural Ideas and Social Realities, 1922-1944; Part III. The Ancient Sense: late Works, 1945-1965; Conclusion: Le Corbusier: Principles and Transformations; bibliography index with 243 illustrations (including 31 in color). First Edition, 1986. "Le Corbusier (1887-1965) has been one of the dominant forces in twentieth-century architecture and a legendary pioneering figure. Many of the forms he created have become archetypes of modernism. Yet he was also a social visionary and a writer of powerful polemics whose ideas have generated intense and partisan controversy. Making full use of the 'Le Corbusier Archive', the author documents individual projects in detail, while linking the imaginative activities of the artist to his philosophy of life, his urban visions, his art and the cultural predicaments of his times. He analyses Le Corbusier's phenomenal powers of abstraction and synthesis, to illustrate how he created a potent architectural vocabulary based on a limited range of types and elements, and how he used it to generate architectural forms of compelling force. This intimate and meticulous study of all Le Corbusier's major buildings - from first sketches to final achievement - reveals the artist's struggle to reconcile the ideal and the practical and to give institutions and ideologies a suitable symbolic form. It shows, in turn, how this most 'modern' of architects constantly found profound inspiration in both nature and architectural tradition." Not Price Clipped. Pristine, no wer. Clean, tight and strong binding with no underlining, highlighting or marginalia. Dark-blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Size: 4to.

Seller Inventory # 002277

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms
• Publisher: Rizzoli, New York
• Publication Date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0847807266
• ISBN 13: 9780847807260
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Book Type: Book
• Seller catalogs:
  • ARCHITECTURE

About this title

Synopsis

Analyzes newly-released archival material to examine the architect's projects as they relate to his philosophy of life, his social visions, and his cultural milieu

Reviews

This thorough review of Le Corbusier (1887-1965), an inescapable force in 20th-century architecture, draws on masses of documentation now available and on a close viewing of the buildings themselves. Curtis has published several works on the architect, and this is a largely successful overview of the entire oeuvre , linking Le Corbusier's ideas and philosophy to the buildings. It is a carefully considered book, based on extensive thought and study of the vast documentation, addressed to the advanced student of modernism. Though the text at times is dense, the structure of the book is very clear and the design and layout are thoughtful and sympathetic. Highly recommended. Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Libs.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.