13 - Le Corbusier, born

Le Corbusier, born (La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 1887 – 1965, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France), "Le Modulor," 1950/56, color lithograph on Vélin d'Arches, monogrammed in stone on the right at half height and dated “(19)50" in the stone, and additionally inscribed at the bottom right before processing by the printer Fernand Mourlot: "ami du Modulor, cherche pas toi-même, invente, découvre... Apporte tes inventions, elles seront utiles. Merci ami" (Friend of the Modulor, do not seek it yourself, invent, discover... Bring your inventions; they will be useful. Thank you, friend), signed and dated on the stone “Paris 2/20/56,” see Weber p. 58, 70 x 52.5 cm (paper size: 73 x 54 cm), mounted on backing board and framed under glass in a plastic frame, overall size: 101 x 71 cm. Limited edition of 450 The “Modulor” is a system of proportions and measurements for architecture and engineering, developed by Le Corbusier between 1942 and 1955 and based on the human body. It was based on the Golden Ratio, combined with the dimensions of an ideal human being. Initially, Le Corbusier assumed a height of 1.83 meters (6 feet); later, he expanded this to an outstretched hand height of 2.26 meters. The Modulor was intended to serve as a standard for designing room heights, furniture, door dimensions, and building components in an ergonomically and aesthetically coherent manner, as well as to function as a universally applicable system of proportions. This system, based on a progressive series of measurements, is designed to enable harmonious designs and a rational construction process. After many years of study, the Atelier Le Corbusier succeeded in presenting the “Modulor,” a tool based on the Golden Ratio. This defines the essential ideal dimensions, such as chair, table, and ceiling heights. All of Le Corbusier’s buildings after 1945 are proportioned according to Modulor dimensions to varying degrees. The central elements of this visualization of the Modulor are the famous silhouette and the accompanying serpentine lines of the red and blue measurement chains. Le Corbusier drew and created collages of his discovery repeatedly. In 1956, after adding the written note cited above, he had a selected collage from 1950 printed by his favorite lithographer, Fernand Mourlot, in Paris.