Le Corbusier
Etude pour: La fille du gardien de phare
Artist
Le Corbusier
Additional Description
Aquarell und Gouache über Bleistift auf chamoisfarbenem Maschinenbütten. 1929. Ca. 44 x 56 cm. Signiert und datiert unten links.
Period
(1887 La Chaux-de-Fonds - Roquebrune 1965)
Technique
Works on paper
Provenance
Roggio Andreini (1906-1996), Paris, Mitarbeiter im Atelier Le Corbusier; Vieri Andreini (1915-2007), Bruder des Vorgenannten; Privatsammlung, Frankreich, durch Erbschaft von Vorgenanntem; Privatsammlung, Paris, bei Vorgenanntem erworben.
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Description
- Rare study from 1929 - transition from purism to the synthesis of the arts
- Key work within Le Corbusier's artistic development around 1930
- Expression of Le Corbusier's search for unity between man, music, object and space
In 1929, Le Corbusier was in a phase of transition. After the purist years, in which he developed a strictly constructive visual language, he increasingly opened up his painting to symbolic and figurative motifs. Parallel to his architectural projects, he searched for an overarching unity of painting, music and architecture. This idea of an artistic synthesis, which he later programmatically referred to as the "synthèse des arts", was already clearly emerging in the late 1920s.
This watercolor shows a horizontally structured composition. Various objects are grouped together in the background - a bottle, a pine cone, a ball of wool with two knitting needles stuck in it, a half-rolled piece of paper, an accordion, a violin and a violin case, above which an island with a lighthouse appears at the top edge - a reference to the title "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter". A woman's upper body appears on the right-hand side of the picture, her face showing a frightened expression. To the right is a smoking pipe and two dominoes. Geometrically delineated color fields in muted shades of brown, ochre, grey and green lend the composition a calm, architectural order. Despite the formal rigor, a subtle tension is created between movement and construction, human and object, sound and form. The transparent colors and precise lines indicate that the sheet was probably created as a compositional study in which Le Corbusier tests proportions and color tones.
The watercolor is closely related in form to the painting "La Fille des gardiens du phare" (1929, Heidi Weber Collection, Zurich). The motif and composition largely correspond, so that the work can be considered a preparatory study or parallel version.
With a confirmation by Eric Mouchet, Paris.
- Key work within Le Corbusier's artistic development around 1930
- Expression of Le Corbusier's search for unity between man, music, object and space
In 1929, Le Corbusier was in a phase of transition. After the purist years, in which he developed a strictly constructive visual language, he increasingly opened up his painting to symbolic and figurative motifs. Parallel to his architectural projects, he searched for an overarching unity of painting, music and architecture. This idea of an artistic synthesis, which he later programmatically referred to as the "synthèse des arts", was already clearly emerging in the late 1920s.
This watercolor shows a horizontally structured composition. Various objects are grouped together in the background - a bottle, a pine cone, a ball of wool with two knitting needles stuck in it, a half-rolled piece of paper, an accordion, a violin and a violin case, above which an island with a lighthouse appears at the top edge - a reference to the title "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter". A woman's upper body appears on the right-hand side of the picture, her face showing a frightened expression. To the right is a smoking pipe and two dominoes. Geometrically delineated color fields in muted shades of brown, ochre, grey and green lend the composition a calm, architectural order. Despite the formal rigor, a subtle tension is created between movement and construction, human and object, sound and form. The transparent colors and precise lines indicate that the sheet was probably created as a compositional study in which Le Corbusier tests proportions and color tones.
The watercolor is closely related in form to the painting "La Fille des gardiens du phare" (1929, Heidi Weber Collection, Zurich). The motif and composition largely correspond, so that the work can be considered a preparatory study or parallel version.
With a confirmation by Eric Mouchet, Paris.