Le Corbusier at the Pompidou Center, April 29-August 3, 2015

Le Centre Pompidou dedicated a retrospective to the work of Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as “Le Corbusier.” Le Corbusier was a visionary architect and  designer, as well as a painter and sculptor who left his mark on 20th century modern architecture.

The Pompidou Center Boutique featured Le Corbusier in the gift shop.

A photograph of Le Corbusier with his classic design, the sling chair

Le Corbusier created a sleek, functional chair, whose backrest tilts as the user shifts from one sitting position to the next. (1928)   Each piece is signed, numbered and licensed by the Le Corbusier Foundation. The cost of a certified sling chair, made in Italy, is $2,280. If you would like an unauthorized sling chair, you can buy one on Amazon.com for $430.

Furniture designed by Le Corbusier with drawings of the Modulor man in the background  

   

Le Modulor   

As a basis for his architectural creation, Le Corbusier designed the Modulor (1944), the silhouette of a human body 1.83 m (6 feet) tall whose proportions were used to build well-suited and harmonious environments. 

The Corbusier chaise lounge

Designed in 1928, the Chaise Lounge has a moveable frame that adjusts along the base, from upright to full recline, so many sitting angles are possible. The Chaise Lounge is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. AND you can buy one for $4,335, signed and numbered under license from the Le Corbusier Foundation. You can also get an unlicensed Corbusier-style chaise lounge on Amazon.com for $889.

The Corbusier armchair

This chair was designed (1928) as a modernist response to the traditional club chair. This chair’s  frame is on the outside, and its thick pillows are within the steel frame. The chair is comfortable and yet minimalist. Each piece is signed and numbered and under exclusive worldwide license from the Le Corbusier Foundation. An authorized Le Corbusier armchair, made in Italy, costs $4,380. The Corbusier-style armchair on Amazon.com costs $477.

The name of the exhibit was “Mesures de l’homme,” and the Modulor is prominently featured at the entrance to the exhibit.  Le Corbusier developed the Modulor in order to discover mathematical proportions in the human body and then use that knowledge to improve both the appearance and function of architecture. The title of the exhibit may be a play on words-- “The Measures of  Man” may refer to the worth of Le Corbusier because of his achievements and also to the measurements of the Modulor, which influenced many aspects of modern architecture.

 Charles-Édouard Jeanneret at the Acropolis in Athens, September, 1911

When he was 24 years old, Jeanneret took a journey through the Balkans to the Bosporus and the ancient Mediterranean world in search of the fundamentals of architecture. The Voyage d’Orient lasted 5 months, during which time Jeanneret filled 80 sketchbooks with renderings of the architecture that he saw. It is said that he returned to these sketches as a source of inspiration throughout his lifetime, taking things he had seen on his travels  and transforming them into innovative new forms by virtue of his own creativity. 

The Purist Movement defined, as only an art critic can define it. 

(Click on the pic to enlarge)

Le Port de La Rochelle, Le Corbusier, 1919

Nature morte avec papier enroulé, pipe, verre et boîte
 (Still life with rolled paper, pipe, glass and box), Le Corbusier, 1918

Still Lifes in the purist style

Guitar verticale (Vertical Guitar), Le Corbusier, 1920

La bouteille du vin orange (The Bottle of Orange Wine), Le Corbusier, 1922

Nature morte aux nombreux objects
(Still life with numerous objects), Le Corbusier, 1923

One of Le Corbusier’s most famous paintings from his Purist period, it is complex rather than minimalist, with objects fusing together and with forms and colors overlapping. 

Vue intérieure du Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, Paris, 1925  

The Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau was a temporary building constructed in 1925 within the framework of the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris. It was a chance for Le Corbusier to show his ideas on architecture and urbanism. 

Maison Citrohan,  Le Corbusier et Pierre Jeanneret (cousin of Charles-Édouard), 1920-1922

Le Corbusier conceived the “Domino” house to be a prototype for the mass production of housing. It was named after the game of dominoes because the  units could be aligned in a series like dominoes, to make row houses of different patterns. The use of concrete in the Citrohan house allows for an open floor plan because the interior space is uninterrupted.  In relation to this building, Le Corbusier published his Five points for a New Architecture.

Sketch of Villa Savoye

Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier et Pierre Jeannerette, 1928-1931

The Villa Savoye is an “internationally-recognized emblem of architectural modernism.” It has all the features listed by Le Corbusier in his Five Points of Modern Architecture: pilotis, (concrete columns to bear the structural load); free design of the floor plan, (no supporting walls); free design of the façade (no structural constraints); horizontal ribbon windows to light rooms equally; and a roof garden, to compensate for the ground lost to the house. The Villa is located in Poissy, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Paris.

Femme, Le Corbusier et Joseph Savina, 1953

During the thirties, Le Corbusier carried out research on bodies: women’s bodies distorted and recomposed as new figures. The evolution of bodies in a series of paintings and sketches culminated in the mural in Badovici’s house in Vézelay (1936). They were on display for the first time in this exhibition. 

Peinture murale pour la maison de Jean Badovici a Vézelay, Le Corbusier, 1935-1936

Architect Jean Badovici, editor of L’Architecture Vivante, prevailed on his friends to paint frescoes in the house he was remodeling. Fernand Leger painted one mural, and Le Corbusier painted this one. Female figures were featured in his paintings at this time. 

La Joueuse d’accordéon et le Coureur, 

(The Accordion Player and the Runner), Le Corbusier, 1932 

(You have to look very closely in the upper right corner to spot the runner.)

All the prototypes of Le Corbusier’s  furniture series

Études ergonomiques du mobilier par rapport aux positions du corp, 

(Ergonomic studies of furniture in relation to positions of the body), Charlotte Perriand, 1928

Le Modulor

The Modulor – governing the form of interiors and the proportion of buildings alike – seems to have been interpreted as a measurement for organizing architecture according to a geometric rationale. Le Corbusier’s concepts are expressed through the idea of human proportions, the human body being essential as a universal principle defining all aspects of architecture and spatial composition.

Models of Le Corbusier’s buildings

Maquette Gratte-ciel Cartésien, (Model of  Cartesian skyscraper), 1937 

Maquette Unité d’habitation de Berlin,
(Model of a residential building in Berlin, Germany), 1957-1958  “Unité d’habitation” is the name of the modernist residential housing design principle developed by Le Corbusier.

Etude pour un terrace sur le toit Unite d’habitation de Berlin

 (Study for a roof terrace for the Berlin apartment building)

Maquette Unité d’habitation de  Marseille
 (Model of a residential building in Marseille, France), 1945-1952  

This model looks like a wine rack and illustrates the plug-in concept of housing. In theory, complete apartments could be hoisted directly into position as prefabricated units and be inserted into the frame, like stacking bottles in a wine rack.  It allows for modular plug-in units of different types. There are 23 different apartment types in the Unité d’habitation in Marseille ranging from flats for single persons to flats for families with children. 

The Unité, Le Corbusier’s most famous housing development, has 337 apartments and 12 stories, suspended on huge pilotis--ground-level supporting columns. The building also incorporates shops, sporting, medical and educational facilities, a hotel which is open to the public, and a gourmet restaurant.  The flat roof is a communal terrace with a running track and a shallow  pool for children. The roof has unobstructed views of the Mediterranean and Marseille. The Unité is popular with its residents and is now mainly occupied by upper middle-class professionals.

Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut in Ronchamp, France
 (Chapel of Our Lady of the hilltop), Le Corbusier, 1954

The chapel, perched high on a hill, probably receives more architectural pilgrims than religious pilgrims. The chapel is a working religious building and attracts 80,000 visitors each year. The nature of the site has similarities to the Acropolis in Athens, starting from the ascent at the bottom of the hill and ending at the chapel itself atop the hill.

Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut

The thick, curved walls and the vast upturned roof give the building a massive, sculptural form. Small, irregular windows in the thick walls give a dim light within the  building, along with further indirect light coming down the three light towers.

 Le Corbusier’s acoustic period began in 1943 and features an ear, found in numerous drawings and paintings. “Acoustic” refers to the science of sound, including its production, transmission and effects, including biological and psychological effects.

Peinture Murale de l’atelier rue de Sèvres, 1948 

Le Corbusier produced this mural in his studio on the rue de Sevres at the request of his staff
"to brighten up the office."

Totem, Le Corbusier et Joseph Savina, 1950

The collaboration between Le Corbusier and Joseph Savina, originally trained as a cabinetmaker,  began in 1946. Savina executed carvings from Le Corbusier's drawings. The partnership resulted in 44, three-dimensional wood structures.  

Les Mains,  Le Corbusier, 1956

Chandigarh, the New Capitol of Punjab
The Taj Mahal was made by foreign craftsmen and admired by foreigners before Indians saw it as a major attraction. Today the Taj is a symbol of India. Tomorrow it will be Le Corbusier's work in Chandigarh.

In the early 50s, Le Corbusier was commissioned by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, to build a city that would replace Lahore, the capital of the Punjab lost to newly created Pakistan after partition in 1947. Nehru said the new metropolis was to be of a design "unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation's faith in the future." Le Corbusier assigned the residential areas to his associates, and he focused on the Capitol, the site of power: the National Assembly building, the High Court of Justice and the Secretariat Building.

I’m pretty sure this is a relief map of the Capitol area of Chandighar, rendered in wood, and displayed as a mural. (I couldn’t find any identification for it.) 

Grande Salle du Palais de l’Assemblée 

A model of the huge, column-free, circular “smokestack” structure as seen on the rooftop of the Assembly Hall

Palais de l’Assemblée (National Assembly Building)

FYI: Today many of the buildings are recognized as modernist masterpieces, but most are in a state of neglect. Recently, international art dealers have made substantial sums selling on auction hundreds of chairs, tables, carvings and prints designed by Le Corbusier and his assistants but obtained at rock bottom prices from officials often unaware of their value. Now a group of local architects, art historians and officials are hoping to mobilize international help to prevent further damage to Le Corbusier's unique Indian legacy. Campaigners hope that with international support, the auctions can be halted until new laws are passed.

Le Corbusier

The last part of the exhibition focuses on Le Corbusier’s “housing unit,” Le Cabanon, or little cabin. It was built on a rock next to the sea at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in the South of France  Le Corbusier designed a minimalist living space, fulfilling only the needs of the body, where he actually lived the rest of his life, almost naked. (The “Tiny House” craze nowadays is really nothing new.) 

Against his doctor's orders, on August 27, 1965, Le Corbusier went for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea.  His body was found by bathers, and it was assumed that he may have suffered a heart attack. His funeral took place in the courtyard of the Louvre Palace on September 1, 1965, under the direction of writer and thinker André Malraux, who was at the time France's Minister of Culture. Tributes to Le Corbusier poured in from all around the world, lauding him as the “greatest master of Modern Architecture.” He was buried alongside his wife in the grave he had designated at Roquebrune.

La Dame de Fer (The Iron Lady) - The Eiffel Tower

Designed by Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is one of the world’s most recognizable monuments. Although the tower once met with wide criticism because of its alleged lack of artistic merit, it has become the most celebrated symbol of Paris. The following  excerpt is from a letter published in Le Temps, February 14, 1887:

“We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects, passionate lovers of the beauty, until now intact, of Paris, hereby protest with all our might, with all our indignation, in the name of French taste gone unrecognized, in the name of French art and history under threat, against the construction, in the very heart of our capital, of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower, that public spite, often marked by good sense and a spirit of justice, has already baptized the Tower of Babel.

However, once the tower was finished, the criticism dissipated in light of the completed masterpiece and the enormous popular success with which it was greeted. It received two million visitors during the World's Fair of 1889.

You really have no idea of the sheer size of the Eiffel Tower until you stand beneath it. It is 324 meters (1,063 ft) tall,  about the same height as an 81-story building. The tower held the record as the world’s tallest structure until the construction of the Chrysler Building in 1930. It was originally built to serve as an elaborate entranceway into the 1899 Paris World’s Fair at a cost of seven million eight hundred thousand gold francs, a  tidy sum of money in those days. However, because it was the highest structure in the world at that time, and everybody who came to the exhibition wanted to get to the top of it, the Eiffel Tower almost paid for itself the first year.

The three platforms

The first platform is 187 feet above the ground and has a floor area of 47,500 square feet. There are souvenir shops, a restaurant and a post office on this level. From there, the tower continues in a slight curve to the much smaller second platform, which is 377 feet above the ground. The second platform has an area of 15,400 square feet. There are telescopes, shops and an elegant restaurant on the second level. Then, the tower rises in a single column of steel framework to a height of 984 feet. The topmost platform has a floor area of 2600 square feet. Eiffel’s private apartment is located on this level. When the tower became a broadcasting tower, another 22 feet were added, so it is now 1,063 feet high. Six and one-half million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year, and 95% of them want to visit the top floor. 

Approaching the Eiffel Tower

I took a skip-the-line, two-hour guided tour of the Eiffel Tower, so there was no waiting in a long line. Coming from the Avenue de la Bourdonnais, one of the streets parallel to the Champ-de-Mars, our group took walkways winding around and through gardens on the Champ-de-Mars. 

Champ-de-Mars gardens 

This approach is through a picturesque park right next to one of the pillars.   Another approach to the tower is from the Trocadéro Esplanade across the Seine, which is said to offer the best view of the tower.  

Bianca, a charming young woman from Hungary, was our guide. 

 Engraved Names 

On the Eiffel Tower, seventy-two names of French scientists, engineers, and mathematicians are engraved in recognition of their contributions. Many of the scientists are also memorialized as streets in Paris. The engravings are found on the sides of the tower under the first balcony. The letters were originally painted in gold and are about 60 cm (2 feet) high.

Looking straight up into the tower, you can see the tennis ball with the name, “Roland- Garros,” the tennis venue for the French Open.

Huge pulleys on the north pillar of the tower hoist up the elevators.

The Champ-de-Mars

The Champ-de-Mars, in a view southeast from the second level of the Eiffel Tower, is roughly eight hundred feet wide and a little less than half a mile long. It stretches from the Seine River to the Military Academy. The gardens are crossed by two broad avenues, and two avenues shaded by chestnut trees are parallel to each side of the garden (Avenue de la Bourdonnais, which was our group’s approach to the tower, is on the far left of the photo.) 

A clay tennis court on the Champ-de-Mars

The "Roland-Garros in the City" event took place on this court in 2014.  Three boys and three girls from India, China and Brazil played the final phase of a tennis competition  here during the French Open, May 25 - June 8.

Looking down from the tower at a small garden with a fountain and park benches. This garden is close to the east pillar of the tower. 

Looking down from the tower at a small garden with a lamp pole in the middle and park benches around the edge. This garden is close to the north pillar of the tower.

Views across the Champ-de-Mars 

The Champ-de-Mars extends from the Seine to the École Militaire at its other end. This huge field gets its name, “Field of Mars,” from the fact that it used to be the parade grounds for the Military Academy, “Mars” being the Roman god of war.  The Military Academy is a long, rambling building with a dome in the center. The  two wings of the school extend for two city blocks on each side. Napoleon entered this school when he was only fifteen and left it a year later as a lieutenant of artillery. 

The size and openness of the Champ-de-Mars made it an ideal meeting place for large public gatherings, some of the most famous of which took place during the French Revolution. Les Invalides is the gold-domed building on the left, and the Tour Montparnasse is the skyscraper in the background. 

A closer look at Les Invalides, originally a hospital and retirement home for war veterans, built by Louis XIV. You can also see the largest and second largest churches in Paris: Notre-Dame, on the left is in the distance, and Saint-Sulpice, directly above the gold dome, is on the right.

Across the Pont Alexandre III with the 4 pillars mounted by golden statues, you can see the Grand Palais on one side of the street and the Petit Palais on the other side. Above the bridge is the Place de la Concorde, with the obelisk in the center. The Tuileries Garden and Musée du Louvre are to the right of the Place. The building with the green roof is the Église Madeleine. Views of Paris from the Eiffel Tower really are unparalleled.

Sacré-Coeur Basilica is visible at the highest point in the center of the photo.

The Arc de Triomphe, with twelve avenues radiating from the arch, is in the middle of the photo. It is known as “Place de l’Etoile” (star). It is located at the west end of the Champs-Elysées, the city’s most famous avenue.

Tour boats regularly cruise the Seine River.

The Palais de Tokyo is a museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art. The foot-bridge across the Seine River is the Passerelle Debilly, originally built to accommodate visitor traffic to the 1900 World’s Fair.

Les Jardins du Trocadéro with fountains,  the two wings of the Palais de Chaillot, and the Esplanade du Trocadéro. La Défense, a major business district of Paris just west of the city, is in the background.

Esplanade du Trocadéro 

The open, level space between the wings of the Palais de Chaillot offers the most panoramic view of the Eiffel Tower. 

Robert and Becky on the Place du Trocadéro

The Bois de Boulogne is a huge public park on the western side of Paris.

La Défense and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which looks like a sailboat in the forest. The Fondation Louis Vuitton is a recently-opened museum dedicated to the promotion of contemporary art and culture.

Île des Cygnes (Swans) is a small man-made island in the Seine. In the time of Louis XV, swans were imported from Denmark and Sweden to populate the island, but now only the name remains.

Île des Cygnes and Statue of Liberty

A tree-lined walkway, named "l'Allée des Cygnes," runs the length of the island. At the far end of the island is a 35-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty.  This monument was given to the city of Paris by the Parisian community of America. Its base carries a commemorative plaque, and the tablet in its left hand bears the inscription IV Juillet 1776 = XIV Juillet 1789, recognizing the American Independence Day and Bastille Day.

Champagne Bar

At a height of 984 feet, this is the third platform of the tower. The bar offers a selection of pink or white Champagne, served perfectly chilled, to enjoy while contemplating an unobstructed view of Paris. And as early in the day as it was, if the Champagne Bar had been open, we would have celebrated our ascent to the top. The trip going up that high was unexpectedly scary. 

Les Toilettes 

Also unexpected was a restroom at the top of the tower. The person in charge was pleasant but determined to keep things going in an  orderly fashion.

Gustav Eiffel’s Office

At the highest level of the tower, which is now open to the public, Eiffel had built himself a small apartment. It was simply furnished, like a  19th-century Parisian home, including carpets, wallpaper, cabinets, and a small bedroom. Nevertheless,  the apartment was the envy of many Parisians, and Eiffel reportedly received several substantial offers for a single night in the apartment. Eiffel refused any and all offers to rent it out and reserved admittance to this unique space only to his prestigious guests. I have to admit that seeing this apartment was the real reason I wanted, once again after many years, to go up in the Eiffel Tower. I’m glad I saw the apartment; moreover, I forgot what panoramic views there are from the tower, so I enjoyed this touristy venue even more than I expected to.

Eiffel’s daughter, Claire, one of Eiffel’s five children (three girls and two boys.)

Thomas Edison

On September 10, 1899, one of Eiffel’s prestigious visitors was Thomas Edison, who spent time with Eiffel smoking cigars, drinking cognac, and discussing Edison’s latest invention, the phonograph. Edison gave Eiffel “one of his newfangled phonograph machines.” 

Edison and Eiffel in the cozy pied à terre at the top of the Eiffel Tower