Customer Reviews

Visionary Architects: Boullee, LeDoux, Lequeu

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this book shows, by way of a series of remarkable prints, the brillance and forward thinking of the neo-classical minds in France. the designs chosen to grace the pages are the best of the theorical work prodced doing this period which went on to influence the expressionist and futurist of the early 20th century. this book is a must have for anyone interested in architectural history, especially if you want to understand the foundation of some of greatest minds of the modern period, including Le Corbusier.

I really love the images in this book.

A warning: this is a 2002 reprint of an 1968 publication, which is fine, but it means that the prints are all black and white even though the originals are (to my knowledge) mostly color renderings. If you go to the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris website, you can find some of the images from this book in their full splendour.

If you love the work of any of these architects, then buy this book--you will be impressed by the number of engravings and paintings, and of course by the imagination and wonder of the buildings therein. Also, I don't know of any other way to bring so many of these designs into the home, but if you do, please share!

One note: the scholarly writing grounds these works in history, which I appreciate, but the writing is at times trite and annoying. For instance: "[A] rather childish imagination" is not the same thing as a rather child-like imagination.