16 - Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier (La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 1887 – 1965, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France), ,"Taureau," study for "Unité" ("Bull," study for the color aquatint, sheet 2 of the "Unité" portfolio), 1964, Watercolor over black chalk on chamois-colored vélin, monogrammed and dated lower right, 26.6 x 20.5 cm, mounted on backing board and set under glass and a mat in a gilded box frame, overall size: 40 x 50 cm. Limit 14,000 Le Corbusier’s 1965 portfolio “Unité,” published in an edition of 130 copies, is one of the artist’s major graphic works and contains a series of 20 original aquatint etchings. The individual designs date back as far as 1953, while the complete portfolio was printed between 1963 and 1965 by the renowned Atelier Crommelynck in Paris and published by Éditions A. C. Mazo & Cie. It was precisely during this period—namely in 1964—that the design presented here for the second sheet of the series was created; it is based on an earlier sketch and underwent several changes before it was realized as a print. In terms of content, the print series draws on the fundamental philosophical and design principles that Le Corbusier also implemented in his residential buildings of the same name, the “Unités d’Habitation” in Marseille and Berlin, which were based on the “Modulor” he developed: The Modulor is a measurement system on a human scale developed by Le Corbusier based on the Golden Ratio. “The Modulor is a measuring instrument derived from human body dimensions and mathematical principles. A person with an arm raised provides three intervals at the key points of spatial use—foot, navel, head, and fingertips—which, when the arm is raised, result in a Golden Ratio, the so-called Fibonacci sequence.” (Le Corbusier, *Le Modulor: essai sur une mesure harmonique à l'échelle humaine applicable universellement à l'architecture et à la mécanique*, 1950). The Modulor thus enables the definition of a unique and universal scale that is based neither on the metric system nor on the foot-and-inch system. A residential building designed according to Modulor dimensions is intended to convey a sense of well-being, familiarity, and security to its inhabitants. The Modulor system applies not only to the dimensions of the house but also to those of the furniture.