Le Corbusier Le Grand by: Jean-Louis Cohen (Editor), Tim Benton (Contributor)
Hardcover. NY, Phaidon Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, This slip-cased, oversized book, weighing 20 pounds and containing over 2000 illustrations, summarizes the life and work of the most important modern architect of the 20th century: the legendary, controversial, and confrontational Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier was not exclusively an architect but an artist (painter and sculptor), urbanist, author, furniture designer, world traveler, and media figure. What is most impressive in this volume are the huge-scale photographs drawn from the Le Corbusier archives at the Fondation Le Corbusier in France. These photographs are personal, professional, indicative, anecdotal, illustrative, and symbolic of the entire saga of Le Corbusier's life and career over 60 years. They make this book an absolute gold mine for anyone wanting to understand and steep themselves in the spirit and character of this greatest modern architect of the last century. The written material is also first-rate: Jean-Louis Cohen, France's best-known historian of modern architecture, contributes an informative introduction, and Tim Benton, a well-known British architectural historian, writes opening texts for individual chapters. Recommended for architecture and art libraries as well as public libraries with serious art collections.--Peter S. Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr. NOTE; DUE TO SIZE AND WEIGHT THIS VOLUME CANNOT BE SHIPPED OUTSIDE THE U.S.