Le Corbusier and the Continual Revolution in Architecture (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Charles-Edouard Jeanneret was born on October 6, 1887, in the Swiss watchmaking town of La Chaux-de-Fonds..." (more)
Key Phrases: compaction composition, cathedrals were white, continual revolution, L'Esprit Nouveau, Don Quixote, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

It could be said that Le Corbusier was to 20th-century architecture what James Joyce was to its literature: each represents for his discipline an inventively pure, Modernist approach. Postmodern theorist, historian, and architect Jencks presents a critical biography of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, who took as a pseudonym a variation on his mother's ancestral name, Le Corbesier. Beginning with the architect's early regionalist work, Jencks examines Le Corbusier's growth into the role of master architect and innovator through detailed, original, and illuminating analyses not only of his building designs but also of his drawings and paintings, paying particular attention to his writings. Jencks argues for an appreciation of the deep sensuality in the architecture and its sources. The captions are lengthy and carefully descriptive, but a greater number of plans and color photographs of the higher-quality buildings as well as greater resolution would have enhanced this notable addition to our understanding of this ultimate architect as artist. For subject collections at all academic and larger public libraries.DPaul Glassman, New York Sch. of Interior Design Lib.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Famed Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier dominated 20th-century architecture much the way Picasso dominated painting. His outstanding achievements, his vision of a harmonious machine civilization, his paintings, drawings, sculpture, architecture, city planning, and writing together compose a portrait of the architect as ìprotean creator.î Like the classic Renaissance Man, Le Corbusier was versed in many fields and largely self-taught, and this gave his work a forceful personal stamp. These qualities also led to serious flaws with several of his ideas, particularly those on city planning, and to an unending conflict with society.

This critical biography looks at Le Corbusier from all angels, including his personal life. Taking into account recent scholarship and new theories of architectural change, Le Corbusier and the Continual Revolution in Architecture explores the notion that the architect was driven by a prophetic voice to at once save and do battle with an industrialized society. Noted architectural historian Charles Jencks chronicles the transformation of Le Corbusierís early regionalist work, his emergence as a modernist leader in the 1920s, his use of metaphor and striking forms at Ronchamp and La Tourette, and the symbolism of his monumental forms at Chandigarh, demonstrating how Le Corbusier continually stayed well ahead of his followers to revolutionize the art of architecture over and over again.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Monacelli (December 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580930778
• ISBN-13: 978-1580930772
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #919,914 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expanded, refined, April 16, 2001

By A Customer

Jencks third work on LC is an expanded and revised take since his first 'tragic view of architecture'. The author makes his point well and the change of focus over the two books - a tragic view/ a continual revolution is a shift in Jencks focus on LC. The continual revolution can be seen to be light on pictures however it is not so much a primary LC text but rather a supplementary viewpoint - as such it is appropriately illustrated. Although Jencks covers the ideas of the tragic view in this edition it is worth also reading the original, where the younger author takes a more ardent stance - taking a tragic line from beginning to end. Jencks books are more than biographical studies of common LC history they follow a consistent objective course to a well directed conclusion. Though in this case there are revolutions (repetition) in information, relative to LC and the stance taken in this book; appropriately so.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More Artist Than Art, February 21, 2006

By	Alexander K. Naylor - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jencks gives us a well-researched biography of Le Corbusier, but unfortunately he does not give the reader enough on Le Corbusier's art. While the insights into Le Corbusier's life are intriguing, we are only given a cursory look at his buildings and paintings themselves with little analysis beyond the typical Jencks "multivalence" routine. It is an excellent biography, but I was shopping more for a detailed look at Le Corbusier's work itself so I was a bit disappointed in the end.