Le Corbusier: A Life

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Nicholas Fox Weber

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2009, 2008, English

Nonfiction, Architecture

ISBN: 9780375410437

From the Publisher. From an acclaimed biographer and cultural historian, author of Balthus and Patron Saints—this is the first full-scale life of Le Corbusier: one of the most influential, admired, and maligned architects of the twentieth century, heralded as a prophet in his lifetime, revered as a god after his death. He was a leader of the modernist movement that sought to create better living conditions and a better society through housing concepts. He predicted the city of the future with its large, white apartment buildings in parklike settings; a move away from the turn-of-the-century industrial city, which he saw as too fussy and suffocating and believed should be torn down, including most of Paris. Irascible and caustic, tender and enthusiastic, more than a mercurial innovator, Le Corbusier was considered to be the very conscience of modern architecture.

On 2 book lists

Paul Goldberger

On Paul Goldberger’s Book List

Carl Magnusson

On Carl Magnusson’s Book List

The first full-length biography of Le Corbusier. His relentless faith in the future—the best interpretation of modernism, in my view—has always been a source of inspiration. I always enjoy a new, well-researched perspective on an old favorite, including this one with its many sketches and beloved Stencil font.

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