Le Corbusier and the creative use of mathematics

British Journal for the History of Science

Volumn 31, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 185-215

  Loach, Judi ^a  

^a CARDIFF UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0346408863     PISSN: 00070874     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0007087498003252     Document Type: Review

References (180)

1. 'La mathématique n'est pas, pour l'artiste, les mathématiques. Il ne s'agit pas de calculs, forcément, mais de la présence d'une royauté; une loi d'infinie résonance, consonance, ordonnance. La rigueur n'est telle, que l'oeuvre d'art en résulte véritablement, qu'il s'agisse du dessin de Léonard, de l'effrayante exactitude du Parthénon, comparable, dans la taille de son marbre, à la taille même des machines-outils, de l'implacable et impeccable jeu constructif de la cathédrale, de l'unité que fait Cézanne, de la loi qui détermine l'arbre, la splendeur unitaire des racines, du tronc, des branches, des feuilles, des fleurs, des fruits. Il n'y a nul hasard dans la nature. Si l'on a compris ce qu'est la mathématique au sens philosophique, on la décèlera, désormais, en toutes ses oeuvres. La rigueur, l'exactitude sont le moyen de la solution, la cause du caractère, la raison de l'harmonie.' Le Corbusier, 'L'architecture et l'esprit mathématique', in Les Grands Courants de la pensée mathématique, Paris, 1948, 480-91, on 490; cited in Dario Matteoni, 'Modulor', in Le Corbusier: Synthèse des arts. Aspekte des Spätwerks 1945-1965 (ed. A. Vorwinckel and T. Kesseler), Karlsruhe, 1986, 17-32, on 29.
2. 'La mathématique n'est pas, pour l'artiste, les mathématiques. Il ne s'agit pas de calculs, forcément, mais de la présence d'une royauté; une loi d'infinie résonance, consonance, ordonnance. La rigueur n'est telle, que l'oeuvre d'art en résulte véritablement, qu'il s'agisse du dessin de Léonard, de l'effrayante exactitude du Parthénon, comparable, dans la taille de son marbre, à la taille même des machines-outils, de l'implacable et impeccable jeu constructif de la cathédrale, de l'unité que fait Cézanne, de la loi qui détermine l'arbre, la splendeur unitaire des racines, du tronc, des branches, des feuilles, des fleurs, des fruits. Il n'y a nul hasard dans la nature. Si l'on a compris ce qu'est la mathématique au sens philosophique, on la décèlera, désormais, en toutes ses oeuvres. La rigueur, l'exactitude sont le moyen de la solution, la cause du caractère, la raison de l'harmonie.' Le Corbusier, 'L'architecture et l'esprit mathématique', in Les Grands Courants de la pensée mathématique, Paris, 1948, 480-91, on 490; cited in Dario Matteoni, 'Modulor', in Le Corbusier: Synthèse des arts. Aspekte des Spätwerks 1945-1965 (ed. A. Vorwinckel and T. Kesseler), Karlsruhe, 1986, 17-32, on 29.
3. Le Corbusier (1887-1965) was actually born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret. The name by which he is better known was invented to identify the new persona which he created for himself in the early 1920s, shortly after his definitive departure from his native Switzerland as part of the new identity he constructed for himself on his installation in Paris.
4. 'Je place l'architecte d'aujourd'hui dans le camp des artistes. J'entends exprimer par là qu'au delà des innombrables tâches de l'ordre pratique qu'il est obligé d'accomplir, s'inscrit comme une nécessité impérative celle de faire de la grâce, c'est à dire de la proportion' (cited in Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 27).
5. 'On se propose, alors, s'agissant d'une œuvre donnée, de rechercher un schéma géométrique - une sorte de schéma de principe - sur lequel reposerait la composition. On désigne fréquemment les schémas de l'espèce par l'expression tracés régulateurs. ... On peut tenir pour assuré qu' à toutes les époques, de nombreux artistes ont fondé consciemment leurs compositions sur des ossatures géométriques (combinaisons de figures géométriques) rigoureusement établies. C'était peut-être, pour de tels artistes, un moyen de s'imposer librement de ces contraintes dont Paul Valéry estime qu'elles sont indispensables, même si elles sont arbitraires, voire absurdes.' Marius Cleyet-Michaud, Le Nombre d'or, Paris, 1973 (5th edn, 1985), 111. The poet Paul Valéry, cited here as an expert on the theory of art, showed a considerable interest in the relationship between mathematics and art, perhaps demonstrated most famously in his article 'Introduction à la méthode de Léonard de Vinci' commissioned for the Nouvelle Revue, thanks to pressure exerted on the editor by Léon Daudet. Valéry wrote quite extensively on architecture, notably a dialogue 'Eupalinos ou l'architecte', published in Architectures (Paris, 1921). Indeed he corresponded with Le Corbusier, who sent Valéry a copy of his L'Art décoratif d'aujourd'hui (Paris, 1925); Valéry's response - agreeing with the arguments expressed in the book and praising it as 'admirable' - is reproduced in the English translation of the book: The Decorative Art of Today (tr. James Dunnett), London, 1987, p. xii.
6. 'On se propose, alors, s'agissant d'une œuvre donnée, de rechercher un schéma géométrique - une sorte de schéma de principe - sur lequel reposerait la composition. On désigne fréquemment les schémas de l'espèce par l'expression tracés régulateurs. ... On peut tenir pour assuré qu' à toutes les époques, de nombreux artistes ont fondé consciemment leurs compositions sur des ossatures géométriques (combinaisons de figures géométriques) rigoureusement établies. C'était peut-être, pour de tels artistes, un moyen de s'imposer librement de ces contraintes dont Paul Valéry estime qu'elles sont indispensables, même si elles sont arbitraires, voire absurdes.' Marius Cleyet-Michaud, Le Nombre d'or, Paris, 1973 (5th edn, 1985), 111. The poet Paul Valéry, cited here as an expert on the theory of art, showed a considerable interest in the relationship between mathematics and art, perhaps demonstrated most famously in his article 'Introduction à la méthode de Léonard de Vinci' commissioned for the Nouvelle Revue, thanks to pressure exerted on the editor by Léon Daudet. Valéry wrote quite extensively on architecture, notably a dialogue 'Eupalinos ou l'architecte', published in Architectures (Paris, 1921). Indeed he corresponded with Le Corbusier, who sent Valéry a copy of his L'Art décoratif d'aujourd'hui (Paris, 1925); Valéry's response - agreeing with the arguments expressed in the book and praising it as 'admirable' - is reproduced in the English translation of the book: The Decorative Art of Today (tr. James Dunnett), London, 1987, p. xii.
7. See, for instance, D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Growth and Form, Cambridge, 1917, several later editions.
8. Matila Ghyka, 'Le Corbusier's Modulor and the concept of the Golden Mean', Architectural Review (February 1948), no. 614, 39-42, on 39. The Pythagorean consonances were indeed used in music, but Ghyka is mistaken in supposing they formed the basis of the diatonic scale.
9. Notably the collection of papers edited by Lancelot Law White, Aspects of Form (London, 1951), and Jacques Nicoll's La Symmétrie dans la nature et les travaux des hommes (Paris, 1955), the latter having been heavily annotated by Le Corbusier. Details concerning the contents of Le Corbusier's personal library are drawn throughout from the catalogue of it, in the Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris.
10. Notably the collection of papers edited by Lancelot Law White, Aspects of Form (London, 1951), and Jacques Nicoll's La Symmétrie dans la nature et les travaux des hommes (Paris, 1955), the latter having been heavily annotated by Le Corbusier. Details concerning the contents of Le Corbusier's personal library are drawn throughout from the catalogue of it, in the Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris.
11. Judi Loach, 'Studio as laboratory', Architectural Review (January 1987), no. 1079, 77.
12. These pans ondulatoires, as they were called, were used most notably in the Dominican monastery of La Tourette, at Eveux, near Lyons, but were also used for the Palace of the Ministries at Chandigarh in India. For further details see Le Corbusier, Modular 2: La parole est aux usagers, Boulogne-sur-Seine, 1955. All quotations will be cited from the English language translation: Modular 2: Let the User Speak (tr. Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock), London, 1958, 321-50.
13. These pans ondulatoires, as they were called, were used most notably in the Dominican monastery of La Tourette, at Eveux, near Lyons, but were also used for the Palace of the Ministries at Chandigarh in India. For further details see Le Corbusier, Modular 2: La parole est aux usagers, Boulogne-sur-Seine, 1955. All quotations will be cited from the English language translation: Modular 2: Let the User Speak (tr. Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock), London, 1958, 321-50.
14. Le Corbusier Sketchbooks, annotated by Francine de Franclieu, 4 vols., Cambridge, MA, 1982, iv. No. 758 (sketch of 18 June 1961).
15. Paul V. Turner, The Education of Le Corbusier: A Study of the Development of Le Corbusier's Thought 1900-20, New York, 1977. All citations will be from the more widely available French language edition: La formation de Le Corbusier: Idéalisme et Mouvement Moderne, Paris, 1987.
16. Paul V. Turner, The Education of Le Corbusier: A Study of the Development of Le Corbusier's Thought 1900-20, New York, 1977. All citations will be from the more widely available French language edition: La formation de Le Corbusier: Idéalisme et Mouvement Moderne, Paris, 1987.
17. Le Corbusier bought a French language edition (Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra (tr. Henri Albert), Paris: Société du Mercure de France, 1908) in 1908 (Turner, op. cit (11), 227 and 231).
18. Le Corbusier bought a French language edition (Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra (tr. Henri Albert), Paris: Société du Mercure de France, 1908) in 1908 (Turner, op. cit (11), 227 and 231).
19. Le Corbusier had bought his own copy of the 1904 edition (published by Perrin) in 1908 (Turner, op. cit. (11), 231), the year in which a second edition appeared.
20. Le Corbusier used the 1908 edition published by Perrin, which he appears to have bought that year (Turner, op. cit. (11), 231); originally published in 1889, the book would be reprinted several times, up to 1931.
21. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (4), 135; English translation, 133.
22. Maurice Denis, Théories, 1890-1910, Paris, 1912. Le Corbusier's inscription in the copy he owned indicates that he bought this in the year of its publication (Turner, op. cit. (11), 232).
23. Maurice Denis, Théories, 1890-1910, Paris, 1912. Le Corbusier's inscription in the copy he owned indicates that he bought this in the year of its publication (Turner, op. cit. (11), 232).
24. Denis, op. cit. (16), 276-7.
25. Denis, op. cit. (16), 260. Maurice Denis would seem to be referring to the as yet unpublished ideas of Paul Sérusier, whose ABC de la peinture would not be published until 1921; the close relationship between these two painters is borne out by the fact the second (1942) edition of Sérusier's book was followed by 'a study of the life and work of Paul Sérusier, by Maurice Denis' ('suivi d'une étude sur la vie et l'oeuvre de Paul Sérusier, par Maurice Denis').
26. Auguste Choisy, Histoire de l'architecture, Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1899; Le Corbusier had bought a later (undated), two volume edition around Christmas 1913 (Turner, op. cit. (11), 131 and 232). All subsequent references will be to the 1899 edition.
27. Auguste Choisy, Histoire de l'architecture, Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1899; Le Corbusier had bought a later (undated), two volume edition around Christmas 1913 (Turner, op. cit. (11), 131 and 232). All subsequent references will be to the 1899 edition.
28. 'Plus grande encore est l'importance de la méthode au point de vue de l'harmonie des formes. L'idée de l'unité dans une oeuvre d'art est celle d'une loi qui domine tout l'ensemble: nous sentons l'existence de cette loi alors même que nous en ignorons la formule ... Que cette loi, en architecture, soit géométrique ou numérique, peu importe: avant tout il faut une loi' (Turner, op. cit. (11), 56).
29. Le Corbusier owned the Paris, 1904 edition (published by Perrin).
30. See Pierre Saddy, 'Les arts primitifs', in Le Corbusier: Le passée à réaction poétique (ed. Pierre Saddy), Paris, 1988, 128-78. In 1909 he had acquired a copy of Gustave le Bon, Les Civilisations de l'Inde, Paris, 1887 (Turner, op. cit. (11). 231); between 1912 and 1916 he acquired a copy of Théophile Roller, Les Catacombes de Rome, 2 vols., Paris, w.d., c. 1881 (Turner, op. cit. (11), 232). For a full list of relevant books acquired by Le Corbusier prior to 1921, see Turner, ibid., 224-9, plus a detailed chronology of his wider reading, 230-3.
31. See Pierre Saddy, 'Les arts primitifs', in Le Corbusier: Le passée à réaction poétique (ed. Pierre Saddy), Paris, 1988, 128-78. In 1909 he had acquired a copy of Gustave le Bon, Les Civilisations de l'Inde, Paris, 1887 (Turner, op. cit. (11). 231); between 1912 and 1916 he acquired a copy of Théophile Roller, Les Catacombes de Rome, 2 vols., Paris, w.d., c. 1881 (Turner, op. cit. (11), 232). For a full list of relevant books acquired by Le Corbusier prior to 1921, see Turner, ibid., 224-9, plus a detailed chronology of his wider reading, 230-3.
32. See Pierre Saddy, 'Les arts primitifs', in Le Corbusier: Le passée à réaction poétique (ed. Pierre Saddy), Paris, 1988, 128-78. In 1909 he had acquired a copy of Gustave le Bon, Les Civilisations de l'Inde, Paris, 1887 (Turner, op. cit. (11). 231); between 1912 and 1916 he acquired a copy of Théophile Roller, Les Catacombes de Rome, 2 vols., Paris, w.d., c. 1881 (Turner, op. cit. (11), 232). For a full list of relevant books acquired by Le Corbusier prior to 1921, see Turner, ibid., 224-9, plus a detailed chronology of his wider reading, 230-3.
33. See Pierre Saddy, 'Les arts primitifs', in Le Corbusier: Le passée à réaction poétique (ed. Pierre Saddy), Paris, 1988, 128-78. In 1909 he had acquired a copy of Gustave le Bon, Les Civilisations de l'Inde, Paris, 1887 (Turner, op. cit. (11). 231); between 1912 and 1916 he acquired a copy of Théophile Roller, Les Catacombes de Rome, 2 vols., Paris, w.d., c. 1881 (Turner, op. cit. (11), 232). For a full list of relevant books acquired by Le Corbusier prior to 1921, see Turner, ibid., 224-9, plus a detailed chronology of his wider reading, 230-3.
34. See Pierre Saddy, 'Les arts primitifs', in Le Corbusier: Le passée à réaction poétique (ed. Pierre Saddy), Paris, 1988, 128-78. In 1909 he had acquired a copy of Gustave le Bon, Les Civilisations de l'Inde, Paris, 1887 (Turner, op. cit. (11). 231); between 1912 and 1916 he acquired a copy of Théophile Roller, Les Catacombes de Rome, 2 vols., Paris, w.d., c. 1881 (Turner, op. cit. (11), 232). For a full list of relevant books acquired by Le Corbusier prior to 1921, see Turner, ibid., 224-9, plus a detailed chronology of his wider reading, 230-3.
35. See Pierre Saddy, 'Les arts primitifs', in Le Corbusier: Le passée à réaction poétique (ed. Pierre Saddy), Paris, 1988, 128-78. In 1909 he had acquired a copy of Gustave le Bon, Les Civilisations de l'Inde, Paris, 1887 (Turner, op. cit. (11). 231); between 1912 and 1916 he acquired a copy of Théophile Roller, Les Catacombes de Rome, 2 vols., Paris, w.d., c. 1881 (Turner, op. cit. (11), 232). For a full list of relevant books acquired by Le Corbusier prior to 1921, see Turner, ibid., 224-9, plus a detailed chronology of his wider reading, 230-3.
36. In around 1901-2 Le Corbusier copied the first five plates, probably as an exercise set in the art school. Parts of his copy of pl. I would find their way into his magazine L'Esprit Nouveau, and subsequently into his book L'Art décoratif d'aujourd'hui (op. cit. (4), 29; English translation, 29).
37. See L'Esprit Nouveau, 1924, reprinted in 'Confessions', in Le Corbusier, op. cit. (4), 201-4.
38. See L'Esprit Nouveau, 1924, reprinted in 'Confessions', in Le Corbusier, op. cit. (4), 201-4.
39. See Le Corbusier, Le Voyage d'Orient, Paris, 1965 (English translation, Journey to the East (tr. Ivan Zacnic), Cambridge, MA, 1987); the journey is summarized in Le Corbusier, op. cit. (4), 210 (English translation, 208-9). From Switzerland he travelled through Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Italy. Throughout he shows greatest interest in vernacular pottery, furniture, costume, houses and villages; the buildings which most please him are those embodying 'simple geometric forms', such as Romanesque or Byzantine churches and Muslim mosques or sepulchres.
40. See Le Corbusier, Le Voyage d'Orient, Paris, 1965 (English translation, Journey to the East (tr. Ivan Zacnic), Cambridge, MA, 1987); the journey is summarized in Le Corbusier, op. cit. (4), 210 (English translation, 208-9). From Switzerland he travelled through Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Italy. Throughout he shows greatest interest in vernacular pottery, furniture, costume, houses and villages; the buildings which most please him are those embodying 'simple geometric forms', such as Romanesque or Byzantine churches and Muslim mosques or sepulchres.
41. See Le Corbusier, Le Voyage d'Orient, Paris, 1965 (English translation, Journey to the East (tr. Ivan Zacnic), Cambridge, MA, 1987); the journey is summarized in Le Corbusier, op. cit. (4), 210 (English translation, 208-9). From Switzerland he travelled through Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Italy. Throughout he shows greatest interest in vernacular pottery, furniture, costume, houses and villages; the buildings which most please him are those embodying 'simple geometric forms', such as Romanesque or Byzantine churches and Muslim mosques or sepulchres.
42. By 1920 Le Corbusier owned copies of the following: Frédéric Boissonas, L'Epire, berceau des Grecs, Geneva: F. Boissonas, 1915; Henri Breuil et al., Peintures et gravures murales des cavernes paléolithiques, 2 vols., Monaco, 1910 and 1912); Gustave le Bon, La Civilisation des Arabes, Paris, 1884, and op. cit. (22), and Les Premières Civilisations, Paris, w.d., c. 1888; Louis Ménard, Histoire des anciens peuples de l'Orient, Paris, 1883; and Roller, op. cit. (22). (Turner, op. cit. (11), 224-9).
43. By 1920 Le Corbusier owned copies of the following: Frédéric Boissonas, L'Epire, berceau des Grecs, Geneva: F. Boissonas, 1915; Henri Breuil et al., Peintures et gravures murales des cavernes paléolithiques, 2 vols., Monaco, 1910 and 1912); Gustave le Bon, La Civilisation des Arabes, Paris, 1884, and op. cit. (22), and Les Premières Civilisations, Paris, w.d., c. 1888; Louis Ménard, Histoire des anciens peuples de l'Orient, Paris, 1883; and Roller, op. cit. (22). (Turner, op. cit. (11), 224-9).
44. By 1920 Le Corbusier owned copies of the following: Frédéric Boissonas, L'Epire, berceau des Grecs, Geneva: F. Boissonas, 1915; Henri Breuil et al., Peintures et gravures murales des cavernes paléolithiques, 2 vols., Monaco, 1910 and 1912); Gustave le Bon, La Civilisation des Arabes, Paris, 1884, and op. cit. (22), and Les Premières Civilisations, Paris, w.d., c. 1888; Louis Ménard, Histoire des anciens peuples de l'Orient, Paris, 1883; and Roller, op. cit. (22). (Turner, op. cit. (11), 224-9).
45. By 1920 Le Corbusier owned copies of the following: Frédéric Boissonas, L'Epire, berceau des Grecs, Geneva: F. Boissonas, 1915; Henri Breuil et al., Peintures et gravures murales des cavernes paléolithiques, 2 vols., Monaco, 1910 and 1912); Gustave le Bon, La Civilisation des Arabes, Paris, 1884, and op. cit. (22), and Les Premières Civilisations, Paris, w.d., c. 1888; Louis Ménard, Histoire des anciens peuples de l'Orient, Paris, 1883; and Roller, op. cit. (22). (Turner, op. cit. (11), 224-9).
46. By 1920 Le Corbusier owned copies of the following: Frédéric Boissonas, L'Epire, berceau des Grecs, Geneva: F. Boissonas, 1915; Henri Breuil et al., Peintures et gravures murales des cavernes paléolithiques, 2 vols., Monaco, 1910 and 1912); Gustave le Bon, La Civilisation des Arabes, Paris, 1884, and op. cit. (22), and Les Premières Civilisations, Paris, w.d., c. 1888; Louis Ménard, Histoire des anciens peuples de l'Orient, Paris, 1883; and Roller, op. cit. (22). (Turner, op. cit. (11), 224-9).
47. By 1920 Le Corbusier owned copies of the following: Frédéric Boissonas, L'Epire, berceau des Grecs, Geneva: F. Boissonas, 1915; Henri Breuil et al., Peintures et gravures murales des cavernes paléolithiques, 2 vols., Monaco, 1910 and 1912); Gustave le Bon, La Civilisation des Arabes, Paris, 1884, and op. cit. (22), and Les Premières Civilisations, Paris, w.d., c. 1888; Louis Ménard, Histoire des anciens peuples de l'Orient, Paris, 1883; and Roller, op. cit. (22). (Turner, op. cit. (11), 224-9).
48. By 1920 Le Corbusier owned copies of the following: Frédéric Boissonas, L'Epire, berceau des Grecs, Geneva: F. Boissonas, 1915; Henri Breuil et al., Peintures et gravures murales des cavernes paléolithiques, 2 vols., Monaco, 1910 and 1912); Gustave le Bon, La Civilisation des Arabes, Paris, 1884, and op. cit. (22), and Les Premières Civilisations, Paris, w.d., c. 1888; Louis Ménard, Histoire des anciens peuples de l'Orient, Paris, 1883; and Roller, op. cit. (22). (Turner, op. cit. (11), 224-9).
49. By 1920 Le Corbusier owned copies of the following: Frédéric Boissonas, L'Epire, berceau des Grecs, Geneva: F. Boissonas, 1915; Henri Breuil et al., Peintures et gravures murales des cavernes paléolithiques, 2 vols., Monaco, 1910 and 1912); Gustave le Bon, La Civilisation des Arabes, Paris, 1884, and op. cit. (22), and Les Premières Civilisations, Paris, w.d., c. 1888; Louis Ménard, Histoire des anciens peuples de l'Orient, Paris, 1883; and Roller, op. cit. (22). (Turner, op. cit. (11), 224-9).
50. In 1927 Le Corbusier bought items from Drouot's sale of 'Art Primitif Africain et Océanien'. He collected the catalogues from the Exposition Coloniale held in Paris in 1931 and the Brussels Exposition Universelle of 1935. In July 1935 he mounted an exhibition of 'so-called primitive art in today's house' ('Les arts dits primitifs dans la Maison d'aujourd'hui') in his own flat; the exhibition included his own collection of African masks and statues, and of fragments of antique sculpture, together with a plaster cast of an archaic statue brightly painted by Le Corbusier in its supposedly original colours (following advice from a keeper at the Louvre), alongside recent paintings by himself and his friend, a more eminent modern painter, Fernand Léger. In 1937 his Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau was furnished with Berber and black African rugs. In his Quand les cathédrales étaient blanches, published the same year (Paris: Plon, 1937), he expressed his preference for archaic over classical Greek art, claiming that the latter bored him (p. 15). In 1957 he wrote a eulogistic preface to Dusan Granbridgan and Jura Neidhardt's Architecktura bosne i put u savremeno ('Architecture of Bosnia and the way to modernity') (Ljubljana, 1957), on the grounds that it linked international modernism with Yugoslav vernacular architecture. He continued to buy books and exhibition catalogues on primitive art throughout the rest of his life (for instance: Henri Clouzot and André Level, L'Art du Congo Belge, w.d., w.p. (Level also wrote on Picasso); Marquis de Wavrin, Au Pays du Scalps (Amazon), Paris, w.d.; Roger Courteville, Fauves humaines de l'Amazonie, Paris, 1932.
51. In 1927 Le Corbusier bought items from Drouot's sale of 'Art Primitif Africain et Océanien'. He collected the catalogues from the Exposition Coloniale held in Paris in 1931 and the Brussels Exposition Universelle of 1935. In July 1935 he mounted an exhibition of 'so-called primitive art in today's house' ('Les arts dits primitifs dans la Maison d'aujourd'hui') in his own flat; the exhibition included his own collection of African masks and statues, and of fragments of antique sculpture, together with a plaster cast of an archaic statue brightly painted by Le Corbusier in its supposedly original colours (following advice from a keeper at the Louvre), alongside recent paintings by himself and his friend, a more eminent modern painter, Fernand Léger. In 1937 his Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau was furnished with Berber and black African rugs. In his Quand les cathédrales étaient blanches, published the same year (Paris: Plon, 1937), he expressed his preference for archaic over classical Greek art, claiming that the latter bored him (p. 15). In 1957 he wrote a eulogistic preface to Dusan Granbridgan and Jura Neidhardt's Architecktura bosne i put u savremeno ('Architecture of Bosnia and the way to modernity') (Ljubljana, 1957), on the grounds that it linked international modernism with Yugoslav vernacular architecture. He continued to buy books and exhibition catalogues on primitive art throughout the rest of his life (for instance: Henri Clouzot and André Level, L'Art du Congo Belge, w.d., w.p. (Level also wrote on Picasso); Marquis de Wavrin, Au Pays du Scalps (Amazon), Paris, w.d.; Roger Courteville, Fauves humaines de l'Amazonie, Paris, 1932.
52. In 1927 Le Corbusier bought items from Drouot's sale of 'Art Primitif Africain et Océanien'. He collected the catalogues from the Exposition Coloniale held in Paris in 1931 and the Brussels Exposition Universelle of 1935. In July 1935 he mounted an exhibition of 'so-called primitive art in today's house' ('Les arts dits primitifs dans la Maison d'aujourd'hui') in his own flat; the exhibition included his own collection of African masks and statues, and of fragments of antique sculpture, together with a plaster cast of an archaic statue brightly painted by Le Corbusier in its supposedly original colours (following advice from a keeper at the Louvre), alongside recent paintings by himself and his friend, a more eminent modern painter, Fernand Léger. In 1937 his Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau was furnished with Berber and black African rugs. In his Quand les cathédrales étaient blanches, published the same year (Paris: Plon, 1937), he expressed his preference for archaic over classical Greek art, claiming that the latter bored him (p. 15). In 1957 he wrote a eulogistic preface to Dusan Granbridgan and Jura Neidhardt's Architecktura bosne i put u savremeno ('Architecture of Bosnia and the way to modernity') (Ljubljana, 1957), on the grounds that it linked international modernism with Yugoslav vernacular architecture. He continued to buy books and exhibition catalogues on primitive art throughout the rest of his life (for instance: Henri Clouzot and André Level, L'Art du Congo Belge, w.d., w.p. (Level also wrote on Picasso); Marquis de Wavrin, Au Pays du Scalps (Amazon), Paris, w.d.; Roger Courteville, Fauves humaines de l'Amazonie, Paris, 1932.
53. In 1927 Le Corbusier bought items from Drouot's sale of 'Art Primitif Africain et Océanien'. He collected the catalogues from the Exposition Coloniale held in Paris in 1931 and the Brussels Exposition Universelle of 1935. In July 1935 he mounted an exhibition of 'so-called primitive art in today's house' ('Les arts dits primitifs dans la Maison d'aujourd'hui') in his own flat; the exhibition included his own collection of African masks and statues, and of fragments of antique sculpture, together with a plaster cast of an archaic statue brightly painted by Le Corbusier in its supposedly original colours (following advice from a keeper at the Louvre), alongside recent paintings by himself and his friend, a more eminent modern painter, Fernand Léger. In 1937 his Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau was furnished with Berber and black African rugs. In his Quand les cathédrales étaient blanches, published the same year (Paris: Plon, 1937), he expressed his preference for archaic over classical Greek art, claiming that the latter bored him (p. 15). In 1957 he wrote a eulogistic preface to Dusan Granbridgan and Jura Neidhardt's Architecktura bosne i put u savremeno ('Architecture of Bosnia and the way to modernity') (Ljubljana, 1957), on the grounds that it linked international modernism with Yugoslav vernacular architecture. He continued to buy books and exhibition catalogues on primitive art throughout the rest of his life (for instance: Henri Clouzot and André Level, L'Art du Congo Belge, w.d., w.p. (Level also wrote on Picasso); Marquis de Wavrin, Au Pays du Scalps (Amazon), Paris, w.d.; Roger Courteville, Fauves humaines de l'Amazonie, Paris, 1932.
54. On marrying in 1930 he would take French nationality.
55. Lynn Garafola, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Oxford 1989, 295-6.
56. Dalcroze was born in Vienna in 1865. After gaining his diploma (in harmony) at the Geneva conservatory he studied in Vienna with Fuchs and Bruckner, and then in Paris with Délibes. In 1892 he returned to Geneva where, from 1905, he began elaborating his own musical theory. In 1910 he was invited to Hellerau, where he set up his institute and, in collaboration with Appia, its theatre. He died in 1950, but the system of musical education based on his theories is still quite widely practised (Luisa Martina Colli, 'Musique', in Le Corbusier, une encyclopédie (ed. Jacques Lucan), Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1987, 268-71).
57. Colli, op, cit. (30), 269, and Pierre Saddy, 'Appia', in Saddy, op. cit. (22), 209-10. Appia, a native of Geneva, was well known in art circles throughout Europe before the First World War.
58. Colli, op, cit. (30), 269, and Pierre Saddy, 'Appia', in Saddy, op. cit. (22), 209-10. Appia, a native of Geneva, was well known in art circles throughout Europe before the First World War.
59. See Le Corbusier, op. cit. (25), 6 (English translation, 4).
60. He had published Les Peintres Cubistes, Paris: E. Figuière, in 1913.
61. Whilst the raw and exotic Slavic primitivism of The Firebird - in its narrative, music (by Stravinsky) and decors (by Bakst) - may have stunned a Parisian audience in the days before The Rite of Spring it must have seemed rather passé afterwards. Parade was at once more sophisticated and more cosmopolitan, being put together by leading members of the Parisian avant-garde - Jean Cocteau (1880-1963) for libretto, Eric Satie (1866-1925) for music and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) for sets and costumes - and looking outside Europe as much West as East, for its storyline. Indeed, Cocteau's concept of ballet as total theatre went too far beyond Diaghilev's previous experience for him to be able to accept crucial parts of it - notably its spoken text and the score's 'acoustic illusions' (including typewriters, sirens and recordings of express trains); the net result was the final split between Cocteau and Diaghilev (Garafola, op. cit. (29): on The Firebird, 16, 64 and 386; on Parade, 99-107 and 407).
62. Whilst the raw and exotic Slavic primitivism of The Firebird - in its narrative, music (by Stravinsky) and decors (by Bakst) - may have stunned a Parisian audience in the days before The Rite of Spring it must have seemed rather passé afterwards. Parade was at once more sophisticated and more cosmopolitan, being put together by leading members of the Parisian avant-garde - Jean Cocteau (1880-1963) for libretto, Eric Satie (1866-1925) for music and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) for sets and costumes - and looking outside Europe as much West as East, for its storyline. Indeed, Cocteau's concept of ballet as total theatre went too far beyond Diaghilev's previous experience for him to be able to accept crucial parts of it - notably its spoken text and the score's 'acoustic illusions' (including typewriters, sirens and recordings of express trains); the net result was the final split between Cocteau and Diaghilev (Garafola, op. cit. (29): on The Firebird, 16, 64 and 386; on Parade, 99-107 and 407).
63. Whilst the raw and exotic Slavic primitivism of The Firebird - in its narrative, music (by Stravinsky) and decors (by Bakst) - may have stunned a Parisian audience in the days before The Rite of Spring it must have seemed rather passé afterwards. Parade was at once more sophisticated and more cosmopolitan, being put together by leading members of the Parisian avant-garde - Jean Cocteau (1880-1963) for libretto, Eric Satie (1866-1925) for music and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) for sets and costumes - and looking outside Europe as much West as East, for its storyline. Indeed, Cocteau's concept of ballet as total theatre went too far beyond Diaghilev's previous experience for him to be able to accept crucial parts of it - notably its spoken text and the score's 'acoustic illusions' (including typewriters, sirens and recordings of express trains); the net result was the final split between Cocteau and Diaghilev (Garafola, op. cit. (29): on The Firebird, 16, 64 and 386; on Parade, 99-107 and 407).
64. Notably Guillaume Apollinaire, Le Poète assassiné, Paris, 1916, and his surrealist drama Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Paris, 1917.
65. Notably Guillaume Apollinaire, Le Poète assassiné, Paris, 1916, and his surrealist drama Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Paris, 1917.
66. Matthew Digby Wyatt, 'An attempt to define the principles which should determine form in the decorative arts', in Lectures Given after the Great Exhibition, second series, London, 1852, 213-51.
67. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (4), 198 (English translation, 194). It is worth citing L'Eplattenier at greater length: 'Nature alone can inspire us, is true, and can support human works. But do not treat it like the landscape artists do, who only show its appearance. Discern its cause, its form, the development of its life, and produce a synthesis of this, through creating ornaments.' ('Seule la nature est inspiratrice, est vraie, et peut être le support de l'oeuvre humaine. Mais ne faites pas la nature à la manière des paysagistes qui n'en montrent que l'aspect. Scrutez-en la cause, la forme, le développement vital et faites-en la synthèse en créant des ornements.')
68. Le Corbusier, Après le Cubisme, Paris, 1918, 41-2.
69. Albert Jeanneret, 'L'Intelligence dans l'oeuvre musicale', L'Esprit Nouveau (1921), No. 7.
70. By this date Le Corbusier owned a copy of Maxime Collignon, Le Parthénon (Paris, w.d., c. 1912); the photographs are by Boissonas.
71. One of his sketchbooks dated 1915 (Le Corbusier Sketchbooks, op. cit. (10), i, No. 113) includes a diagram showing tracés régulateurs drawn over a section of an Achaemenian dome, supposedly taken from Marcel Dieulafoy's L'Art antique de la Perse, Archéménides, Parthes, Sassanides (5 vols., Paris, 1884-85); in fact it seems almost certain that Le Corbusier had only looked at this in a secondary source, Auguste Choisy's L'Histoire de l'architecture, which he owned by this date (see note 19), and in which an identical diagram appears, complete with tracés (Choisy, op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B).
72. One of his sketchbooks dated 1915 (Le Corbusier Sketchbooks, op. cit. (10), i, No. 113) includes a diagram showing tracés régulateurs drawn over a section of an Achaemenian dome, supposedly taken from Marcel Dieulafoy's L'Art antique de la Perse, Archéménides, Parthes, Sassanides (5 vols., Paris, 1884-85); in fact it seems almost certain that Le Corbusier had only looked at this in a secondary source, Auguste Choisy's L'Histoire de l'architecture, which he owned by this date (see note 19), and in which an identical diagram appears, complete with tracés (Choisy, op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B).
73. One of his sketchbooks dated 1915 (Le Corbusier Sketchbooks, op. cit. (10), i, No. 113) includes a diagram showing tracés régulateurs drawn over a section of an Achaemenian dome, supposedly taken from Marcel Dieulafoy's L'Art antique de la Perse, Archéménides, Parthes, Sassanides (5 vols., Paris, 1884-85); in fact it seems almost certain that Le Corbusier had only looked at this in a secondary source, Auguste Choisy's L'Histoire de l'architecture, which he owned by this date (see note 19), and in which an identical diagram appears, complete with tracés (Choisy, op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B).
74. By this date Le Corbusier owned a copy of Joris Karl Huysmans, La Cathédrale, Paris, 1908 (of which he acquired his own copy as early as 1909: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231), not to mention Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècles, 10 vols., Paris, 1854-68 (which he acquired as early as 1908: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231). It is likely, however, that he had also read the relevant section in Choisy, op. cit. (19), ii, 123-48.
75. By this date Le Corbusier owned a copy of Joris Karl Huysmans, La Cathédrale, Paris, 1908 (of which he acquired his own copy as early as 1909: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231), not to mention Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècles, 10 vols., Paris, 1854-68 (which he acquired as early as 1908: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231). It is likely, however, that he had also read the relevant section in Choisy, op. cit. (19), ii, 123-48.
76. By this date Le Corbusier owned a copy of Joris Karl Huysmans, La Cathédrale, Paris, 1908 (of which he acquired his own copy as early as 1909: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231), not to mention Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècles, 10 vols., Paris, 1854-68 (which he acquired as early as 1908: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231). It is likely, however, that he had also read the relevant section in Choisy, op. cit. (19), ii, 123-48.
77. By this date Le Corbusier owned a copy of Joris Karl Huysmans, La Cathédrale, Paris, 1908 (of which he acquired his own copy as early as 1909: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231), not to mention Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècles, 10 vols., Paris, 1854-68 (which he acquired as early as 1908: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231). It is likely, however, that he had also read the relevant section in Choisy, op. cit. (19), ii, 123-48.
78. By this date Le Corbusier owned a copy of Joris Karl Huysmans, La Cathédrale, Paris, 1908 (of which he acquired his own copy as early as 1909: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231), not to mention Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècles, 10 vols., Paris, 1854-68 (which he acquired as early as 1908: Turner, op. cit. (11), 231). It is likely, however, that he had also read the relevant section in Choisy, op. cit. (19), ii, 123-48.
79. Fechner's 'psychophysics' had been brought to the attention of French audiences by Charles Lalo, in his L'Esthétique expérimentale contemporaine, Paris, 1908, 40-51. I suspect that Le Corbusier may have been directed towards these by Matila Ghyka, who would refer to them in his Nombre d'or, 2 vols., Paris, 1931 (vol. 1: Les Rythmes; vol. 2: Les Rites), ii, 155.
80. Fechner's 'psychophysics' had been brought to the attention of French audiences by Charles Lalo, in his L'Esthétique expérimentale contemporaine, Paris, 1908, 40-51. I suspect that Le Corbusier may have been directed towards these by Matila Ghyka, who would refer to them in his Nombre d'or, 2 vols., Paris, 1931 (vol. 1: Les Rythmes; vol. 2: Les Rites), ii, 155.
81. Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture, was first published by Crès et Cie. in Paris in 1923. The English version, Towards a New Architecture, translated by the Vorticist Frederick Etchells, was first published in London by John Rodker in 1927.
82. Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture, was first published by Crès et Cie. in Paris in 1923. The English version, Towards a New Architecture, translated by the Vorticist Frederick Etchells, was first published in London by John Rodker in 1927.
83. Dieulafoy, op. cit. (41). Dieulafoy had been an archaeologist supervising archaeological digs for the Louvre, and so citation of his work would have helped to lend academic credibility to Le Corbusier's more speculative considerations of such ancient monuments. Le Corbusier's diagram of Achaemenian cupolas is entitled 'Extract from a book by Dieulafoy' (Towards a New Architecture, op. cit. (44), 1946 edition, 72).
84. Dieulafoy, op. cit. (41). Dieulafoy had been an archaeologist supervising archaeological digs for the Louvre, and so citation of his work would have helped to lend academic credibility to Le Corbusier's more speculative considerations of such ancient monuments. Le Corbusier's diagram of Achaemenian cupolas is entitled 'Extract from a book by Dieulafoy' (Towards a New Architecture, op. cit. (44), 1946 edition, 72).
85. For Blondel's Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws the tracés régulateurs over a photograph (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 49); the tracés régulateurs are identical to those proposed by Choisy (op. cit. (19), ii, 746). The line drawing of the Arsenal at Piraeus together with the tracés régulateurs drawn over it (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 57) appear to have been lifted directly from Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 389); admittedly Le Corbusier changes the lettering of ths diagram! The line drawing of a section through an Achaemenian dome overlaid with tracés régulateurs (p. 58), credited to Dieulafoy (see note 41), is identical to that in Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B), where it is similarly credited to Dieulafoy; Le Corbusier had copied this into his sketchbook back in 1915 (see note 41). For Notre-Dame (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 59), as for the Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws Choisy's tracés régulateurs (op. cit. (19), ii, 404) over a photograph of the façade. Eventually Le Corbusier tacitly acknowledged this debt to Choisy ('some pages in Auguste Choisy's book on the History of Architecture devoted to the tracés régulateurs'), Le Corbusier, Le Modular: Essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable à l'architecture et à la mécanique, Boulogne-sur-Seine: Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Collection ASCORAL, 1950, 27. English translation by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock, London, 1954; all references will be to the 1968 English language edition, Cambridge, MA.
86. For Blondel's Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws the tracés régulateurs over a photograph (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 49); the tracés régulateurs are identical to those proposed by Choisy (op. cit. (19), ii, 746). The line drawing of the Arsenal at Piraeus together with the tracés régulateurs drawn over it (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 57) appear to have been lifted directly from Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 389); admittedly Le Corbusier changes the lettering of ths diagram! The line drawing of a section through an Achaemenian dome overlaid with tracés régulateurs (p. 58), credited to Dieulafoy (see note 41), is identical to that in Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B), where it is similarly credited to Dieulafoy; Le Corbusier had copied this into his sketchbook back in 1915 (see note 41). For Notre-Dame (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 59), as for the Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws Choisy's tracés régulateurs (op. cit. (19), ii, 404) over a photograph of the façade. Eventually Le Corbusier tacitly acknowledged this debt to Choisy ('some pages in Auguste Choisy's book on the History of Architecture devoted to the tracés régulateurs'), Le Corbusier, Le Modular: Essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable à l'architecture et à la mécanique, Boulogne-sur-Seine: Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Collection ASCORAL, 1950, 27. English translation by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock, London, 1954; all references will be to the 1968 English language edition, Cambridge, MA.
87. For Blondel's Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws the tracés régulateurs over a photograph (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 49); the tracés régulateurs are identical to those proposed by Choisy (op. cit. (19), ii, 746). The line drawing of the Arsenal at Piraeus together with the tracés régulateurs drawn over it (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 57) appear to have been lifted directly from Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 389); admittedly Le Corbusier changes the lettering of ths diagram! The line drawing of a section through an Achaemenian dome overlaid with tracés régulateurs (p. 58), credited to Dieulafoy (see note 41), is identical to that in Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B), where it is similarly credited to Dieulafoy; Le Corbusier had copied this into his sketchbook back in 1915 (see note 41). For Notre-Dame (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 59), as for the Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws Choisy's tracés régulateurs (op. cit. (19), ii, 404) over a photograph of the façade. Eventually Le Corbusier tacitly acknowledged this debt to Choisy ('some pages in Auguste Choisy's book on the History of Architecture devoted to the tracés régulateurs'), Le Corbusier, Le Modular: Essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable à l'architecture et à la mécanique, Boulogne-sur-Seine: Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Collection ASCORAL, 1950, 27. English translation by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock, London, 1954; all references will be to the 1968 English language edition, Cambridge, MA.
88. For Blondel's Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws the tracés régulateurs over a photograph (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 49); the tracés régulateurs are identical to those proposed by Choisy (op. cit. (19), ii, 746). The line drawing of the Arsenal at Piraeus together with the tracés régulateurs drawn over it (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 57) appear to have been lifted directly from Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 389); admittedly Le Corbusier changes the lettering of ths diagram! The line drawing of a section through an Achaemenian dome overlaid with tracés régulateurs (p. 58), credited to Dieulafoy (see note 41), is identical to that in Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B), where it is similarly credited to Dieulafoy; Le Corbusier had copied this into his sketchbook back in 1915 (see note 41). For Notre-Dame (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 59), as for the Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws Choisy's tracés régulateurs (op. cit. (19), ii, 404) over a photograph of the façade. Eventually Le Corbusier tacitly acknowledged this debt to Choisy ('some pages in Auguste Choisy's book on the History of Architecture devoted to the tracés régulateurs'), Le Corbusier, Le Modular: Essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable à l'architecture et à la mécanique, Boulogne-sur-Seine: Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Collection ASCORAL, 1950, 27. English translation by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock, London, 1954; all references will be to the 1968 English language edition, Cambridge, MA.
89. For Blondel's Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws the tracés régulateurs over a photograph (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 49); the tracés régulateurs are identical to those proposed by Choisy (op. cit. (19), ii, 746). The line drawing of the Arsenal at Piraeus together with the tracés régulateurs drawn over it (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 57) appear to have been lifted directly from Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 389); admittedly Le Corbusier changes the lettering of ths diagram! The line drawing of a section through an Achaemenian dome overlaid with tracés régulateurs (p. 58), credited to Dieulafoy (see note 41), is identical to that in Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B), where it is similarly credited to Dieulafoy; Le Corbusier had copied this into his sketchbook back in 1915 (see note 41). For Notre-Dame (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 59), as for the Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws Choisy's tracés régulateurs (op. cit. (19), ii, 404) over a photograph of the façade. Eventually Le Corbusier tacitly acknowledged this debt to Choisy ('some pages in Auguste Choisy's book on the History of Architecture devoted to the tracés régulateurs'), Le Corbusier, Le Modular: Essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable à l'architecture et à la mécanique, Boulogne-sur-Seine: Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Collection ASCORAL, 1950, 27. English translation by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock, London, 1954; all references will be to the 1968 English language edition, Cambridge, MA.
90. For Blondel's Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws the tracés régulateurs over a photograph (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 49); the tracés régulateurs are identical to those proposed by Choisy (op. cit. (19), ii, 746). The line drawing of the Arsenal at Piraeus together with the tracés régulateurs drawn over it (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 57) appear to have been lifted directly from Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 389); admittedly Le Corbusier changes the lettering of ths diagram! The line drawing of a section through an Achaemenian dome overlaid with tracés régulateurs (p. 58), credited to Dieulafoy (see note 41), is identical to that in Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B), where it is similarly credited to Dieulafoy; Le Corbusier had copied this into his sketchbook back in 1915 (see note 41). For Notre-Dame (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 59), as for the Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws Choisy's tracés régulateurs (op. cit. (19), ii, 404) over a photograph of the façade. Eventually Le Corbusier tacitly acknowledged this debt to Choisy ('some pages in Auguste Choisy's book on the History of Architecture devoted to the tracés régulateurs'), Le Corbusier, Le Modular: Essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable à l'architecture et à la mécanique, Boulogne-sur-Seine: Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Collection ASCORAL, 1950, 27. English translation by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock, London, 1954; all references will be to the 1968 English language edition, Cambridge, MA.
91. For Blondel's Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws the tracés régulateurs over a photograph (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 49); the tracés régulateurs are identical to those proposed by Choisy (op. cit. (19), ii, 746). The line drawing of the Arsenal at Piraeus together with the tracés régulateurs drawn over it (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 57) appear to have been lifted directly from Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 389); admittedly Le Corbusier changes the lettering of ths diagram! The line drawing of a section through an Achaemenian dome overlaid with tracés régulateurs (p. 58), credited to Dieulafoy (see note 41), is identical to that in Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B), where it is similarly credited to Dieulafoy; Le Corbusier had copied this into his sketchbook back in 1915 (see note 41). For Notre-Dame (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 59), as for the Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws Choisy's tracés régulateurs (op. cit. (19), ii, 404) over a photograph of the façade. Eventually Le Corbusier tacitly acknowledged this debt to Choisy ('some pages in Auguste Choisy's book on the History of Architecture devoted to the tracés régulateurs'), Le Corbusier, Le Modular: Essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable à l'architecture et à la mécanique, Boulogne-sur-Seine: Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Collection ASCORAL, 1950, 27. English translation by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock, London, 1954; all references will be to the 1968 English language edition, Cambridge, MA.
92. For Blondel's Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws the tracés régulateurs over a photograph (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 49); the tracés régulateurs are identical to those proposed by Choisy (op. cit. (19), ii, 746). The line drawing of the Arsenal at Piraeus together with the tracés régulateurs drawn over it (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 57) appear to have been lifted directly from Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 389); admittedly Le Corbusier changes the lettering of ths diagram! The line drawing of a section through an Achaemenian dome overlaid with tracés régulateurs (p. 58), credited to Dieulafoy (see note 41), is identical to that in Choisy (op. cit. (19), i, 137, fig. 6B), where it is similarly credited to Dieulafoy; Le Corbusier had copied this into his sketchbook back in 1915 (see note 41). For Notre-Dame (Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 59), as for the Porte St-Denis, Le Corbusier draws Choisy's tracés régulateurs (op. cit. (19), ii, 404) over a photograph of the façade. Eventually Le Corbusier tacitly acknowledged this debt to Choisy ('some pages in Auguste Choisy's book on the History of Architecture devoted to the tracés régulateurs'), Le Corbusier, Le Modular: Essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable à l'architecture et à la mécanique, Boulogne-sur-Seine: Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Collection ASCORAL, 1950, 27. English translation by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock, London, 1954; all references will be to the 1968 English language edition, Cambridge, MA.
93. Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 60 and 61 respectively.
94. Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture, op. cit. (44), 61-3 (illus. with tracés régulateures on 61 and 62).
95. 'Les lois de la physique astreignent ces systèmes à des aventures rigoureusement fatales.' Le Corbusier, op. cit. (44), 180; the full argument runs: 'The inexplicability of causes. But everywhere, in nature as in life, we find the unfolding of causality. Going right back to the limits of our awareness, we can find reasons. The further back we go, the more we are satisfied in this respect. On consideration one finds that everything is ordered according to principles consistent with the generality of things, and that every organism marks a certain stage along the line of variables on the axis which joins two poles, variables which, obeying the law of a single function, set up a series: a coherent system varies according to innumerable modalities of combinations. The world is thus summed up in a few species. The laws of physics subject these systems to experiences that are rigorously determinate. (L'inexplicable des causes. Mais partout, dans la nature comme dans l'événement, se trouve l'explication de l'enchaînement. Remontant jusque-là où s'arrête notre prise de conscience, nous pouvons trouver les raisons. Plus nous remontons haut, plus nous sommes satisfaits. L'on mesure que tout s'ordonne selon des principes conformes au général et que tout organisme est un certain point d'étape de la ligne des variantes autour de l'axe qui relie deux pôles, variantes qui, obéissant à une fonction, établissent une série: un système cohérent varie avec les innombrables modalires des combinaisons. Le monde alors se résume en quelques espèces. Les lois de la physique astreignent ces systèmes à
96. 'Les lois de la physique astreignent ces systèmes à des aventures rigoureusement fatales.' Le Corbusier, op. cit. (44), 180; the full argument runs: 'The inexplicability of causes. But everywhere, in nature as in life, we find the unfolding of causality. Going right back to the limits of our awareness, we can find reasons. The further back we go, the more we are satisfied in this respect. On consideration one finds that everything is ordered according to principles consistent with the generality of things, and that every organism marks a certain stage along the line of variables on the axis which joins two poles, variables which, obeying the law of a single function, set up a series: a coherent system varies according to innumerable modalities of combinations. The world is thus summed up in a few species. The laws of physics subject these systems to experiences that are rigorously determinate. (L'inexplicable des causes. Mais partout, dans la nature comme dans l'événement, se trouve l'explication de l'enchaînement. Remontant jusque-là où s'arrête notre prise de conscience, nous pouvons trouver les raisons. Plus nous remontons haut, plus nous sommes satisfaits. L'on mesure que tout s'ordonne selon des principes conformes au général et que tout organisme est un certain point d'étape de la ligne des variantes autour de l'axe qui relie deux pôles, variantes qui, obéissant à une fonction, établissent une série: un système cohérent varie avec les innombrables modalires des combinaisons. Le monde alors se résume en quelques espèces. Les lois de la physique astreignent ces systèmes à des aventures rigoureusement fatales.)' ibid., 177-80.
97. 'Une composition architecturale ne peut être que géométrique de la Vie, de la Croissance, doit être une conception consciente, non un simple réseau de lignes', Ghyka, op. cit. (43), i, 34. Ghyka absorbed Hambidge's ideas on dynamic and static symmetry here, claiming that the structure of inorganic matter consists of hexagonal geometries, whilst that of organic matter consists of pentagonal geometries, such as can be linked with the Golden Section; thus the geometry of the living world was the same as that discovered to underpin all great works of art. For further information see Dario Matteoni, 'Tracés régulateurs', in Lucan op. cit. (30), 409-14.
98. 'Une composition architecturale ne peut être que géométrique de la Vie, de la Croissance, doit être une conception consciente, non un simple réseau de lignes', Ghyka, op. cit. (43), i, 34. Ghyka absorbed Hambidge's ideas on dynamic and static symmetry here, claiming that the structure of inorganic matter consists of hexagonal geometries, whilst that of organic matter consists of pentagonal geometries, such as can be linked with the Golden Section; thus the geometry of the living world was the same as that discovered to underpin all great works of art. For further information see Dario Matteoni, 'Tracés régulateurs', in Lucan op. cit. (30), 409-14.
99. Ghyka remained in touch with Le Corbusier and would write a positive article on the Modulor (Ghyka, op. cit. (6), 39-42).
100. 'L'élément qui engendre la vie ou le mouvement', annotation on a sketch of 9 December 1945, cited in Matteoni, op. cit. (52), 105.
101. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 27.
102. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 27.
103. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 42.
104. This may have been as well for Le Corbusier's later reputation, but one should remember that, at the time, the Vichy regime had some apparent claims to legitimacy.
105. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 127ff. The appeal to AFNOR was made in 1948.
106. The first AGM took place on 26 March 1943, but Le Corbusier dates its inception to the previous year (Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46). For further details on ASCORAL see Patrice Noviant, 'ASCORAL', in Lucan, op. cit. (30), 50-1.
107. The first AGM took place on 26 March 1943, but Le Corbusier dates its inception to the previous year (Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46). For further details on ASCORAL see Patrice Noviant, 'ASCORAL', in Lucan, op. cit. (30), 50-1.
108. Matteoni, op. cit. (52), 107, and op. cit. (1), 20. On Le Corbusier's activities during the Vichy period see Danielle Pauly,' Sul cantiere di Marsiglia', Rassegna (1980), 2, 3, 72-8, and Giuliano Gresleri and Dario Matteoni, 'Introduzione a Le Corbusier', in Proposte di urbanistica, Bologna, 1980, 7-24.
109. Matteoni, op. cit. (52), 107, and op. cit. (1), 20. On Le Corbusier's activities during the Vichy period see Danielle Pauly,' Sul cantiere di Marsiglia', Rassegna (1980), 2, 3, 72-8, and Giuliano Gresleri and Dario Matteoni, 'Introduzione a Le Corbusier', in Proposte di urbanistica, Bologna, 1980, 7-24.
110. Matteoni, op. cit. (52), 107, and op. cit. (1), 20. On Le Corbusier's activities during the Vichy period see Danielle Pauly,' Sul cantiere di Marsiglia', Rassegna (1980), 2, 3, 72-8, and Giuliano Gresleri and Dario Matteoni, 'Introduzione a Le Corbusier', in Proposte di urbanistica, Bologna, 1980, 7-24.
111. Like many Britons working in Paris, Hanning seems not to have anticipated the occupation, which was quite sudden, and therefore found himself unable to leave. As might be expected, the Germans treated British nationals in occupied France in pretty much the same way as they treated French ones.
112. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 36-7. For the Renaissance connections of this idea see below.
113. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 23. The first sketch of the Modulor man (dated 28 December 1943), which would become the hallmark of the project, includes references both to Ghyka's Esthétique des proportions (op. cit. (51), 47) and to Zeising's work ( Matteoni op. cit. (52), 105, and op. cit (1), 22). Ghyka had in fact taken Zeising's assertion that the umbilicus marked the division of the human body by the Golden Ratio as his starting point, but then taken this idea further (Matteoni op. cit. (52), 105).
114. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 23. The first sketch of the Modulor man (dated 28 December 1943), which would become the hallmark of the project, includes references both to Ghyka's Esthétique des proportions (op. cit. (51), 47) and to Zeising's work ( Matteoni op. cit. (52), 105, and op. cit (1), 22). Ghyka had in fact taken Zeising's assertion that the umbilicus marked the division of the human body by the Golden Ratio as his starting point, but then taken this idea further (Matteoni op. cit. (52), 105).
115. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 23. The first sketch of the Modulor man (dated 28 December 1943), which would become the hallmark of the project, includes references both to Ghyka's Esthétique des proportions (op. cit. (51), 47) and to Zeising's work ( Matteoni op. cit. (52), 105, and op. cit (1), 22). Ghyka had in fact taken Zeising's assertion that the umbilicus marked the division of the human body by the Golden Ratio as his starting point, but then taken this idea further (Matteoni op. cit. (52), 105).
116. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46). Its final text was written in August to November 1948, but it was first published only in 1950. It is worth noting that publication would be under the auspices of ASCORAL.
117. Dario Matteoni, 'Modulor: un système de mesures', in Lucan, op. cit. (30), 260.
118. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 28.
119. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 57.
120. I owe this idea to Tim Benton (conversation, July 1996).
121. This is clearest in the article written by Danielle Janin (an assistant in Le Corbusier's office), 'La Maison Radieuse' for the special edition of Homme et architecture, supervised directly by Le Corbusier (Paris, numéro spécial 11-12-13-14, 1947, 68-73), which constituted the first monograph on the Unite d'Habitation at Marseilles. The illustrations to this article included, on its opening page, a photograph of the pilotis in a model of the (as yet unbuilt) Unité, with an Egyptian statue in their midst, so as to make them read as the columns of an ancient Egyptian temple (p. 68). Directly above and opposite this photograph were comparable ones of the Basilica at Paestum and the courtyard of Rameses II in the Temple of Amon at Luxor (pp. 68-9). Later on (p. 71) Janin recounts a fictitious visit by some traveller in the future, who arrives at the Unité after visiting many cities, some new and others in ruins; on encountering the pilotis he asks aloud, 'Well, well, a new religion in a new temple?' ('Tiens, tiens, une nouvelle religion dans un nouveau temple?').
122. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 28.
123. Elisa Maillard, Du nombre d'or, Paris, 1943; Le Corbusier praises this work in Le Modulor, op. cit. (46), 38. Her other publications include: Les Cahiers du nombre d'or, 5 vols., Paris: vol. 1, Albert Dürer, 1960; vol. 2, Eglises byzantines, 1962; vol. 3, Eglises des douzième au quinzième siècles, 1964; vol. 4, Botticelli, 1964; vol. 5, Le Parthénon, 1968. The special issue of Revue d'esthétique (vol. 14, parts 3 and 4) on 'Arts et mathématiques' (Paris, 1961) includes Elisa Maillard, 'Les proportions du nombre d'or dans les œuvres à deux dimensions'.
124. Elisa Maillard, Du nombre d'or, Paris, 1943; Le Corbusier praises this work in Le Modulor, op. cit. (46), 38. Her other publications include: Les Cahiers du nombre d'or, 5 vols., Paris: vol. 1, Albert Dürer, 1960; vol. 2, Eglises byzantines, 1962; vol. 3, Eglises des douzième au quinzième siècles, 1964; vol. 4, Botticelli, 1964; vol. 5, Le Parthénon, 1968. The special issue of Revue d'esthétique (vol. 14, parts 3 and 4) on 'Arts et mathématiques' (Paris, 1961) includes Elisa Maillard, 'Les proportions du nombre d'or dans les œuvres à deux dimensions'.
125. Elisa Maillard, Du nombre d'or, Paris, 1943; Le Corbusier praises this work in Le Modulor, op. cit. (46), 38. Her other publications include: Les Cahiers du nombre d'or, 5 vols., Paris: vol. 1, Albert Dürer, 1960; vol. 2, Eglises byzantines, 1962; vol. 3, Eglises des douzième au quinzième siècles, 1964; vol. 4, Botticelli, 1964; vol. 5, Le Parthénon, 1968. The special issue of Revue d'esthétique (vol. 14, parts 3 and 4) on 'Arts et mathématiques' (Paris, 1961) includes Elisa Maillard, 'Les proportions du nombre d'or dans les œuvres à deux dimensions'.
126. Elisa Maillard, Du nombre d'or, Paris, 1943; Le Corbusier praises this work in Le Modulor, op. cit. (46), 38. Her other publications include: Les Cahiers du nombre d'or, 5 vols., Paris: vol. 1, Albert Dürer, 1960; vol. 2, Eglises byzantines, 1962; vol. 3, Eglises des douzième au quinzième siècles, 1964; vol. 4, Botticelli, 1964; vol. 5, Le Parthénon, 1968. The special issue of Revue d'esthétique (vol. 14, parts 3 and 4) on 'Arts et mathématiques' (Paris, 1961) includes Elisa Maillard, 'Les proportions du nombre d'or dans les œuvres à deux dimensions'.
127. Elisa Maillard, Du nombre d'or, Paris, 1943; Le Corbusier praises this work in Le Modulor, op. cit. (46), 38. Her other publications include: Les Cahiers du nombre d'or, 5 vols., Paris: vol. 1, Albert Dürer, 1960; vol. 2, Eglises byzantines, 1962; vol. 3, Eglises des douzième au quinzième siècles, 1964; vol. 4, Botticelli, 1964; vol. 5, Le Parthénon, 1968. The special issue of Revue d'esthétique (vol. 14, parts 3 and 4) on 'Arts et mathématiques' (Paris, 1961) includes Elisa Maillard, 'Les proportions du nombre d'or dans les œuvres à deux dimensions'.
128. Elisa Maillard, Du nombre d'or, Paris, 1943; Le Corbusier praises this work in Le Modulor, op. cit. (46), 38. Her other publications include: Les Cahiers du nombre d'or, 5 vols., Paris: vol. 1, Albert Dürer, 1960; vol. 2, Eglises byzantines, 1962; vol. 3, Eglises des douzième au quinzième siècles, 1964; vol. 4, Botticelli, 1964; vol. 5, Le Parthénon, 1968. The special issue of Revue d'esthétique (vol. 14, parts 3 and 4) on 'Arts et mathématiques' (Paris, 1961) includes Elisa Maillard, 'Les proportions du nombre d'or dans les œuvres à deux dimensions'.
129. Elisa Maillard, Du nombre d'or, Paris, 1943; Le Corbusier praises this work in Le Modulor, op. cit. (46), 38. Her other publications include: Les Cahiers du nombre d'or, 5 vols., Paris: vol. 1, Albert Dürer, 1960; vol. 2, Eglises byzantines, 1962; vol. 3, Eglises des douzième au quinzième siècles, 1964; vol. 4, Botticelli, 1964; vol. 5, Le Parthénon, 1968. The special issue of Revue d'esthétique (vol. 14, parts 3 and 4) on 'Arts et mathématiques' (Paris, 1961) includes Elisa Maillard, 'Les proportions du nombre d'or dans les œuvres à deux dimensions'.
130. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 37-42.
131. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 21.
132. Le Corbusier has recorded that a meeting of all three regarding the Modulor took place on 7 February 1945 (Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 43).
133. Conversation with Rene Taton, July 1995. See also Paul Montel's essay 'La mathématique du nombre d'or', Revue d'esthetique, op. cit. (76).
134. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 43.
135. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 43; Le Corbusier's own list of those entering his office, compiled for his exhibition at the Musée de l'Art Moderne, Paris, in 1962-63, runs as follows for the period concerned here: 1944, Aujame and de Looze; 1945, Soltan; 1946, Bodiansky, Janin, Candilis, Gardien, Zalewsky, Dubois. This list is contradicted by Soltan's account, in which he and Hanning were working alone in the office from summer, but the number of inaccuracies in his version - Maillard being a mathematician instead of an art historian, Ghyka being Greek instead of Hungarian, Hanning being French, etc. - suggest that his memory had faded by the time he wrote it, more than forty years after the event (Jerzy Soltan, 'Working with Le Corbusier' in The Le Corbusier Archive, vol. 17: Unité d'Habitation, Marseille-Michelet, vol. 2 (cd. H. Allen Brooks), New York: Garland, and Paris: Fondation Le Corbusier, 1983, pp. ix-xxiv, especially p. xviii.
136. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 43; Le Corbusier's own list of those entering his office, compiled for his exhibition at the Musée de l'Art Moderne, Paris, in 1962-63, runs as follows for the period concerned here: 1944, Aujame and de Looze; 1945, Soltan; 1946, Bodiansky, Janin, Candilis, Gardien, Zalewsky, Dubois. This list is contradicted by Soltan's account, in which he and Hanning were working alone in the office from summer, but the number of inaccuracies in his version - Maillard being a mathematician instead of an art historian, Ghyka being Greek instead of Hungarian, Hanning being French, etc. - suggest that his memory had faded by the time he wrote it, more than forty years after the event (Jerzy Soltan, 'Working with Le Corbusier' in The Le Corbusier Archive, vol. 17: Unité d'Habitation, Marseille-Michelet, vol. 2 (cd. H. Allen Brooks), New York: Garland, and Paris: Fondation Le Corbusier, 1983, pp. ix-xxiv, especially p. xviii.
137. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 43; Le Corbusier's own list of those entering his office, compiled for his exhibition at the Musée de l'Art Moderne, Paris, in 1962-63, runs as follows for the period concerned here: 1944, Aujame and de Looze; 1945, Soltan; 1946, Bodiansky, Janin, Candilis, Gardien, Zalewsky, Dubois. This list is contradicted by Soltan's account, in which he and Hanning were working alone in the office from summer, but the number of inaccuracies in his version - Maillard being a mathematician instead of an art historian, Ghyka being Greek instead of Hungarian, Hanning being French, etc. - suggest that his memory had faded by the time he wrote it, more than forty years after the event (Jerzy Soltan, 'Working with Le Corbusier' in The Le Corbusier Archive, vol. 17: Unité d'Habitation, Marseille-Michelet, vol. 2 (cd. H. Allen Brooks), New York: Garland, and Paris: Fondation Le Corbusier, 1983, pp. ix-xxiv, especially p. xviii.
138. Soltan, an officer in the Polish army, came directly from several years in a Prisoner of War camp in Switzerland, from which he had written to Le Corbusier asking for work in his office. Multilingual and highly cultivated, Soltan had translated some of Le Corbusier's works into Polish before the war.
139. Soltan, op. cit. (81), p. xviii.
140. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 43.
141. Author's interview with Alain Tavès, summer 1986. Tavès had been the 'boy' concerned; little over a decade later Tavès would enter Le Corbusier's office as a draughtsman, on graduating from architectural school in Paris (interviews with author, summer 1986).
142. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 58.
143. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 25. On returning to France Le Corbusier left John Dale (chairman of Charles Hardie Inc.) searching for an industrialist to manufacture the Modulor rule ( Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 46-8).
144. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 25. On returning to France Le Corbusier left John Dale (chairman of Charles Hardie Inc.) searching for an industrialist to manufacture the Modulor rule ( Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 46-8).
145. Matteoni, op. cit. (52), 104, and op. cit. (1), 22-3.
146. Matteoni, op. cit. (52), 104, and op. cit. (1), 22-3.
147. The publicity for the tape-measure promoted it as 'The instrument to put on the table beside compasses' ('Outil à placer sur la table à dessin à côté du compas'), letter from John Dale to Le Corbusier, 9 December 1946 (Archives de la Fondation Le Corbusier, cited in Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 25); it was relatively small (2.16 m), and thus designed for office rather than site use. It was available in fabric and metal versions.
148. Letters to author 1994-95; conversation with author, June 1995.
149. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 234-5.
150. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9) 205. Le Corbusier fails to give any detailed reference.
151. Rudolph Wittkower, 'Alberti's approach to antiquity in architecture', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes (1940-1), 4, 1-18; 'Principles of Palladio's architecture', part I in ibid. (1944), 7, 102-22, and part II in ibid. (1945), 8, 68-106.
152. Rudolph Wittkower, 'Alberti's approach to antiquity in architecture', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes (1940-1), 4, 1-18; 'Principles of Palladio's architecture', part I in ibid. (1944), 7, 102-22, and part II in ibid. (1945), 8, 68-106.
153. Rudolph Wittkower, 'Alberti's approach to antiquity in architecture', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes (1940-1), 4, 1-18; 'Principles of Palladio's architecture', part I in ibid. (1944), 7, 102-22, and part II in ibid. (1945), 8, 68-106.
154. James Ackermann, 'Gothic theory of architecture at Milan Cathedral', Art Bulletin (1949), 31, 84ff, Rudolph Wittkower, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, Studies of the Warburg Institute, 19, London, 1949. The only major differences consisted of the inclusion in the book of an extra chapter (ch. 1), 'The centrally planned church in the Renaissance', and the section on Palladio's optical and psychological effects at Il Redentore, in the chapter on Palladio (Alina Payne, 'Rudolph Wittkower and architectural principles in the age of modernism', Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (1994), 53, 322-42, on 325 n14).
155. James Ackermann, 'Gothic theory of architecture at Milan Cathedral', Art Bulletin (1949), 31, 84ff, Rudolph Wittkower, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, Studies of the Warburg Institute, 19, London, 1949. The only major differences consisted of the inclusion in the book of an extra chapter (ch. 1), 'The centrally planned church in the Renaissance', and the section on Palladio's optical and psychological effects at Il Redentore, in the chapter on Palladio (Alina Payne, 'Rudolph Wittkower and architectural principles in the age of modernism', Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (1994), 53, 322-42, on 325 n14).
156. James Ackermann, 'Gothic theory of architecture at Milan Cathedral', Art Bulletin (1949), 31, 84ff, Rudolph Wittkower, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, Studies of the Warburg Institute, 19, London, 1949. The only major differences consisted of the inclusion in the book of an extra chapter (ch. 1), 'The centrally planned church in the Renaissance', and the section on Palladio's optical and psychological effects at Il Redentore, in the chapter on Palladio (Alina Payne, 'Rudolph Wittkower and architectural principles in the age of modernism', Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (1994), 53, 322-42, on 325 n14).
157. Wittkower, op. cit. (95), Preface. On Rudolph and Margot Wittkower's considerable awareness of modern architecture and the current interests of its practitioners see Payne, op. cit. (95), 338 n106: From 1925 onwards he wrote on modern architecture; they both read 'all' the modern architectural writers, including Le Corbusier; and they claimed to have been the only art historians to have visited the Weissenhof Siedlung in 1927.
158. Wittkower, op. cit. (95), Preface. On Rudolph and Margot Wittkower's considerable awareness of modern architecture and the current interests of its practitioners see Payne, op. cit. (95), 338 n106: From 1925 onwards he wrote on modern architecture; they both read 'all' the modern architectural writers, including Le Corbusier; and they claimed to have been the only art historians to have visited the Weissenhof Siedlung in 1927.
159. Margot Wittkower informed Henry Millon that the publishers had only wanted to print 500 copies, for Renaissance scholars, but the Wittkowers advised them to print an extra 100 copies as 'some architects will want to read the book'; it sold out within three months (Henry Millon, 'Rudolph Wittkower, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism: its influence on the development and interpretation of modern architecture', Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (1972), 31, 83-91, on 89 n33). A second edition was brought out by Tiranti (London) in 1952 and a third in 1962 (ibid., 83 n2).
160. For further details see Millon, op. cit. (97); Payne, op. cit. (95); Eva-Marie Neumann, 'Architectural proportion in Britain 1945-1957', Architectural History (1996), 39, 197-221.
161. For further details see Millon, op. cit. (97); Payne, op. cit. (95); Eva-Marie Neumann, 'Architectural proportion in Britain 1945-1957', Architectural History (1996), 39, 197-221.
162. For further details see Millon, op. cit. (97); Payne, op. cit. (95); Eva-Marie Neumann, 'Architectural proportion in Britain 1945-1957', Architectural History (1996), 39, 197-221.
163. James Ackermann later recalled that the congress received so much attention that it seemed more like a glamorous film opening, with Wittkower and Le Corbusier in the role of the two stars (Payne, op. cit. (95), 339 n109).
164. The lectures they gave were on the following themes: Wittkower, 'Some aspects of proportion in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance'; Ghyka, 'Pentagonal symmetry and the Golden Section in the morphology of living organisms'; Ackermann, 'Gothic architectural proportions, Milan 1400; Giedion, The parts and the whole in contemporary art and architecture; Nervi, 'Proportions in technology' (static equilibria which determine architectural proportions); Rogers, 'Measure and greatness'; Le Corbusier, 'The Modulor'; Bill, 'The idea of space', The artists Severini and Vantongerloo also delivered papers. A summary of the conference is given by Le Corbusier (op. cit. (9), 141-5); abstracts of the papers were published in Atti e Rassegna Technica della Società degli Ingegneri e degli Architetti in Torino (1952), No. 6, 119-35.
165. The lectures they gave were on the following themes: Wittkower, 'Some aspects of proportion in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance'; Ghyka, 'Pentagonal symmetry and the Golden Section in the morphology of living organisms'; Ackermann, 'Gothic architectural proportions, Milan 1400; Giedion, The parts and the whole in contemporary art and architecture; Nervi, 'Proportions in technology' (static equilibria which determine architectural proportions); Rogers, 'Measure and greatness'; Le Corbusier, 'The Modulor'; Bill, 'The idea of space', The artists Severini and Vantongerloo also delivered papers. A summary of the conference is given by Le Corbusier (op. cit. (9), 141-5); abstracts of the papers were published in Atti e Rassegna Technica della Società degli Ingegneri e degli Architetti in Torino (1952), No. 6, 119-35.
166. The catalogue was published as Nova Triennale di Milano, Studi sulle proporzioni, Milan, 1951.
167. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 2nd edn, Introduction.
168. Rudolph Wittkower, 'Systems of proportion', in Architects Yearbook, No. 5 (ed. Trevor Dannatt), London, 1954, 9-18, on 18.
169. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 191-3.
170. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 231.
171. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (46), 58.
172. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 84, 131, 201, 289.
173. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 20, 76-9, 205, 207.
174. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 74.
175. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 163. Wachsmann was in fact an ex-associate from Le Corbusier's office, a fact which he fails to mention.
176. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 21, 22, 131.
177. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 141, 170-3.
178. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (9), 133.
179. Matteoni, op. cit. (1), 29.
180. Le Corbusier, op. cit. (1).