Le Corbusier and the Power of Photography

Add to My Reading List

Nathalie Herschdorfer

Le Corbusier

Thames & Hudson, New York, 2013, English

Nonfiction, Architecture; Nonfiction, Photography

9.4 in x 11.3 inches, hardcover, 256 pages, 403 illustrations

ISBN: 9780500544228

Suggested Retail Price: $60.00

From the Publisher. The development of one of the twentieth century’s greatest architects was inextricably connected to the rise of the century’s most popular visual medium: photography. Marking the 125th anniversary of Le Corbusier’s birth, this remarkable publication traces the many ways in which the architect used photography to define and disseminate his work and ideas around the world.

Because his buildings are usually shown in a documentary manner, the candid, personal, artistic, and often unexpected images reproduced here offer new insights and ways to appreciate the many facets of the man behind his works. The topics covered include Le Corbusier’s early experimentation with photography; how he employed photography in promotional materials relating to his buildings and ideas; and his use of large-scale imagery in his buildings and exhibitions. There is also a section devoted to contemporary photographic interpretations of his buildings.

With contributions by Norman Foster, Tim Benton, Arthur Ruegg, Veronique Boone, Catherine de Smet, Klaus Spechtenhauser, and Jean-Christophe Blaser.

Nathalie Herschdorfer is a photography historian and curator. She is the author of Afterwards, and the co-author of Face: The New Photographic Portrait. Lada Umstätter is chief curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

comments powered by Disqus

Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

Order the book.

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

Order the book.

Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman

Love Letter to a Garden

By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025

From the award-winning artist, designer, and the host of the podcast Design Matters, Debbie Millman, this book tells the visual story of falling in love with gardening—and the philosophies that work conjures. Spread throughout are simple recipes using the garden’s ingredients from Millman’s wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay.

Order the book.

Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

Order the book.

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

Order the book.

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

Order the book.