Le Corbusier Série Panurge
Medium: Portfolio of Lithographs, Signed and Numbered on BFK Rives paper
Edition: 123/150
Year: 1962
Signed in pencil and numbered
Printer: Mourlot, Paris (Fernand Mourlot)
Dimensions: 55.9 x 45.7 cm
Reference: Weber, p. 48-51
Le Corbusier Serie Panurge, printed by Mourlot, Paris 1962, is an interpretation of Rabelais’ series of novels: Gargantua and Pantagruel. This stunning portfolio is comprised of a title page in colour, one text page in colour, the justification signed in pencil by the architect/designer, and five black-and-white engravings ( rhodoid-gravures ), engraved by Le Corbusier at Cap Martin, France, in the summer of 1961.
“This art folder, written in the most solid language, always under my hand, somewhere with its companion Don Quixote and Odysseus between the three continents united by the sea. This book of quintessence is incomplete human contact, spirit, body, health… This is why Panurge in those August days in 1961 was and became “marionette-like” L – C
Rhodoid-gravures is a special technique of engraving created by Le Corbusier, using a thick film of cellulose acetate. He applied black colour and etched lines to form the composition.
The lithographs and etchings are a result of the collaboration between Heidi Weber and Le Corbusier.
Comes with a signed and dated certificate of provenance
THE ARTIST
LE CORBUSIER
b. 1887 La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Le Corbusier cannot be comprehended without including him as a painter, a draftsman and a graphic artist. Art was the foundation with which he built his architectural work upon and develop his modernist vision. Art inspired Le Corbusier to explore his ideas of architectural space, visions which were completely unique and yet to be realised at the time. He experimented with the dissolution and reconstruction of the three dimensional shapes, which can later be seen in his buildings and even in his urban architectural projects. The development that he underwent as an artist was parallel to his development as an architect. It is not without reason that he placed importance on the statement that the key to his architecture was to be found in his artistic work. Le Corbusier cannot be comprehended without including him as a painter, a draftsman and a graphic artist. Art was the foundation with which he built his architectural work upon and develop his modernist vision. Art inspired Le Corbusier to explore his ideas of architectural space, visions which were completely unique and yet to be realised at the time. He experimented with the dissolution and reconstruction of the three dimensional shapes, which can later be seen in his buildings and even in his urban architectural projects. The development that he underwent as an artist was parallel to his development as an architect. It is not without reason that he placed importance on the statement that the key to his architecture was to be found in his artistic work.
By 1920's Le Corbusier was an established architect, but it wasn't until forty years after his death that he gained recognition for his artwork, and the significance it held in art history. He gained strength and inspiration from his art: for decades he devoted every morning to his artwork. Art was “the key to my existence.”