LE CORBUSIER (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) (1887-1965) Le... Lot 74

LE CORBUSIER (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) (1887-1965) Le Modulor Novopan cut-out, relief inserts, red lacquered board. A red lacquered particle board. H 178 x W 72 x D 4 CM - H 70 1/8 x W 28 3/8 x D 1 5/8 IN. PROVENANCE - Former Charles Barberis collection - Guy Rottier collection HISTORICAL attested by the le corbusier foundation "During the summer of 1958, in Roquebrune Cap-Martin, two Modulor figures, one with its arm raised, the other with its arm lowered, were designed by Le Corbusier and executed by Charles Barberis, who became the architect's regular carpenter over the course of successive collaborations. Le Corbusier drew these Modulor figures and their elements in relief on panels of novopan, which were then cut out by Barberis and painted. The Modulor arm lift was presented and catalogued at the Le Corbusier exhibition organized by the Centre Pompidou in 2015." BIBLIOGRAPHY - Gérard Monnier, "Le Corbusier les unités d'habitations en France", Éditions Belin, Paris, 2002, model reproduced p.122 - "Le Corbusier, Mesures de l'HOMME", edited by Olivier Cinqualbre and Frédéric Migayrou, exhibition presented at the Centre Pompidou, from 29 April to 3 August 2015 The Modulor, a word composed of "module" and "golden number" is an architectural concept developed and invented by Le Corbusier between 1942 and 1950. This human silhouette is based on numerous mathematical, morphological and humanistic researches. It allows to conceive the size and structure of housing units and furniture in order to optimize the relationship between man and his living space. The work on the Modulor was completed in 1950 with the publication of Le Modulor : essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable universally to architecture and mechanics and in 1955 with Le Modulor 2, gathering applications, criticisms and a discussion on the Modulor. Once the Modulor was completed, Le Corbusier applied his new system of measurement in almost all his buildings: the Claude and Duval factory, the Cité Radieuse, the Couvent de la Tourette, the Jaoul houses, the institutions of Chandigarh, the Ronchamp chapel or the cabin of Roquebrune Cap Martin. Proof is then established that the Modulor is suitable for all kinds of buildings. Gradually, according to his architectural achievements, Le Corbusier became friends with Charles Barberis, a carpentry contractor of Corsican origin, who settled in Villeneuve-Loubet in order to manufacture and deliver the numerous orders from Le Corbusier's building sites. It was Charles Barberis who built the famous cabanon in Roquebrune Cap Martin in 1952 and who made the modifications over time. In 1958, during a stay in his cabanon, to thank Charles Barberis for his efficient and devoted support, Le Corbusier decided to offer him two versions of the Modulor, one red, with the arm raised, on a painted and graduated panel explaining the different reference measurements, the other red, with the arm lowered. These two Modulors were designed by Le Corbusier, executed by Barberis and then painted. Charles Barberis immediately exhibited the two works in his business in Villeneuve Loubet until 1965. The Modulor, red, arm down, was then included in a retrospective exhibition on Le Corbusier in Aix-en-Provence before being sold to Guy Rottier. The Modulor, red, arm raised, exhibited in 2015 at the Centre Pompidou during the exhibition "Le Corbusier, mesures de l'homme", has just been definitively acquired by the Centre Pompidou. A few examples of the Modulor, sculpted by Constantin Andréou, are known to have been used to create a large indentation at the entrance to the cités radieuses.