Le Corbusier: Moments in the Life (German and English Edition) [Hardcover]

Arthur Rüegg (Editor), René Burri (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 1995

Great moments in the life and work of Le Corbusier expertly captured by the Magnum photographer, Burri. An outstanding document of value for art and architectural history. Burri was born in 1933 and has been a member of the famous photo agency, Magnum since 1959. He photographed Le Corbusier in the most diverse situations during the last decade of his life from 1955-1965. With his characteristic appearance and forceful personality Le Corbusier became the very embodiment of the modern architect. As a public figure, he knew what was expected of him and he played the part to perfection. Scenes from Le Corbusier's private and public life depict classic moments in the lives of architects in an exemplary way. <P> Burri, who won the Erich Salomon prize for outstanding photographic journalism in 1998, is constantly chasing that moment of maximum intensity when everything-the position of the people, the light, the significance of the objects-is just right. Only then when he successfully captures "the vibration of the living" is he satisfied. <P> On his search for the ultimate moment Burri took around 3000 photographs of Le Corbusier and his work. Some have been published and have become icons. These together with previously unpublished photographs convey a message which is still valid today but frequently we can no longer set them in the historical context of the time. Consequently, Burri has created sequences of pictures with the help of the Le Corbusier expert, Arthur Ruegg (editor of Polychromie Architecturale) which should revive typical moments in the life of the great architect in a particularly vivid way. The individual sequences of photographs are complemented by informative texts, providing background details on the situations depicted. <P> In the format of an album, this publication contains approximately 200 duotone and colour photographs. Much of the visual material has not been previously published and will provide many a surprise for architects, photographers and art historians. Preface by Mario Botta.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, a Swiss-born Frenchman better known as Le Corbusier, may well have been the 20th century's greatest architect. He was also a capable painter, a brilliant theoretician and polemicist, and a terrible city planner. This book does not offer the usual analysis of Le Corbusier's work or his place in history; rather, it is the result of the interaction between Corbu and René Burri, a young Magnum photographer who documented a bit of the architect's life and a few of his buildings between 1955 and his death in 1965.

It's a human story as much as an architectural one, giving clues about how Corbu lived, worked, and related to people in his later years, and how people lived in and used his buildings. This is a wide-ranging work of photojournalism that stands up well decades after its inception. It also provides a look at seven of the designer's structures, including landmarks such as Villa Savoye, the Ronchamp Chapel, La Tourette monastery, and the Unité d'Habitation in Marseilles.

This large, horizontal-format book of 184 pages contains hundreds of photos, mostly black-and-white, and they give people as much prominence as the structures, bringing the architect, his clients, their buildings, and the buildings' occupants to life in a way that conventional architecture tomes do not. A fascinating, one-of-a-kind book that forms a valuable supplement to the standard works on Le Corbusier, it should appeal equally to those interested in documentary photography, architecture, and major cultural figures. --John Pastier

Review

The images of the master inspecting a construction site with the Dominican Fathers, his clients, are reason enough to won this portfolio of candid photos by Rene Burri. -- House + Garden<br /><br />The images of the master inspecting a construction site with the Dominican Fathers, his clients, are reason enough to won this portfolio of candid photos by Rene Burri. --House + Garden

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 181 pages
• Publisher: Birkhäuser Architecture; 2nd edition (June 27, 1995)
• Language: German, English
• ISBN-10: 3764359994
• ISBN-13: 978-3764359997
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,274,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)