Sculpture by Le Corbusier

Little secret, 1962. Natural mahogany with a chestnut frame.

I pulled across some fantastic sculpture from the one and only Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier, a genius in my eyes who always inspires me to get creative. I guess you could class this work as later in his life, for example the above piece titled “Little Secret” was created in 1962 which is only three years from his death in 1965. I’m not sure why but I’m always attracted to his later works, they seem to be slightly more creative than his earlier projects and are almost quite ‘wacky’ but at the same time controlled, I almost see parallels between him and Salvador Dali’s paintings in his late sculpture, even though it’s no secret that they weren’t the biggest fans of each other.

I’m regularly analysing whether I like purely functional and industrial products or if I like one-of-a-kind type handmade items. In my opinion there’s a middle ground, on one hand I think you can own a home that’s purely functional, with industrial products to match, but at the end of the day it’s lifeless to own objects that have no background or character as well. We’re not machines and we all have a personality, well hopefully, sculpture like this really puts my thoughts in perspective and gets me inspired on the art side of things. If you can find a balance between these two elements you’ve definitely succeeded, Jens Risom’s house interior is a great example that comes to mind, he’s got some amazing sculpture in his home which looks superb against the clean and structural lines of his furniture. A place you should check out if you haven’t already.

I guess with Le Corbusier he abandoned the so called idea of Purism in the 1950’s, so this is most probably where his sculpture stems from. He made more robust works, even his architecture turned from being quite lightweight into a more rustic feel with heavy walls and splashes of bright colour. He left concrete unfinished, wooden formwork plainly visible, the thing with using concrete is that it allowed Le Corbusier to explore unusual shapes and forms. The Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut shows this perfectly.

Overall I hope you enjoy these Le Corbusier sculptures above and below, I have to thank the Le Corbusier Foundation who’ve got a cracking site and showcase a wide variety of works, whether it be paintings or furniture. I’d definitely recommend floating that way for a look this afternoon, you won’t be disappointed and you’ll be sure to find something of interest.

“To create architecture is to put in order. Put what in order? Function and objects.” –Le Corbusier

www.fondationlecorbusier.fr

The child is there , 1961. Made out of Polychrome wood.

Water, sky, earth , 1954. Made out of Polychrome wood.

Icon , 1953. Natural wood and chestnut.

Panurge , 1964. Natural wood and polychrome.

Little secret, 1963. Natural wood.

Untitled , 1948. Polychrome wooden pedestal and yew wood.

Mobile, 1947. Natural Wood .

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