567 - Le Corbusier (1887, La Chaux-de-Fonds – Roquebrune, 1965)

Le Corbusier (1887, La Chaux-de-Fonds – Roquebrune, 1965) Woman with a Candle and Still Life Mixed media with collage and gouache over pencil on handmade paper. (19)47. Approx. 75.5 x 35 cm. Signed and dated lower left. With a certificate of authenticity from Eric Mouchet, Paris (copy). • The “Femme à la bougie” is a recurring key motif in Le Corbusier’s work • Combined in 1947 from two earlier pictorial themes into a new, large-format composition • A characteristic work by the artist, in which old pictorial themes are further developed and recombined The motif of the “Femme à la bougie (Woman with a Candle)” occupied Le Corbusier for several decades. A starting point was a series of drawings from 1939 in which he depicted his wife Yvonne as the “guardian angel of the home.” In the years that followed, Le Corbusier continued to develop this female figure. The theme found an important expression in 1946 in the painting “Femme à la bougie I” (Jornod 332). For this collage from 1947, Le Corbusier draws on two earlier pictorial themes: the still life “Nature morte (étude)” from 1927 (Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris, FLC 1206) in the upper part of the image and the “Femme à la bougie” from 1946 below it. He combines both motifs into a new, independent composition. This process of further developing and recombining his own visual ideas is characteristic of Le Corbusier’s working method. “Femme à la bougie” remained a recurring, important motif in Le Corbusier’s work in the years that followed. In 1953, it found sculptural expression in the wooden sculpture “Icône” (Fondation Le Corbusier, Sculpture FLC 13), developed in collaboration with Joseph Savina, and in 1955, a painting of the same name was created (Jornod 417). His ongoing engagement with the theme is also evident in an enamel work from 1964 (Fondation Le Corbusier, Enamel FLC 19). Provenance: From the collection of a Le Corbusier associate; private collection, Paris. Taxation: subject to differential taxation (VAT: Margin Scheme).