Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret)

(1887–1965).

Swiss-born architect, painter, designer, and writer who settled in Paris in 1917 and became a French citizen in 1930. Although chiefly celebrated as one of the greatest and most influential architects of the 20th century, Le Corbusier also has a small niche in the history of modern painting as co-founder (with Ozenfant) of Purism in 1918. Up to 1929 he painted only still life, but from that time he occasionally introduced the human figure into his compositions. He retained the Purist dislike of ornament for its own sake, but his work became more dynamic, imaginative, and lyrical, though still restrained by his horror of any form of excess. He adopted the pseudonym Le Corbusier in 1920, but continued to sign his paintings ‘Jeanneret’; the pseudonym derives from the name of one of his grandparents and is also a pun on his facial resemblance to a raven (French corbeau). Apart from architecture and paintings, his enormous output included drawings, book illustrations, lithographs, tapestry designs, furniture, and numerous books, pamphlets, and articles.