Le Corbusier's Hands

by Wogenscky, Andre; Bernad, Martina Milla

• ISBN13: 9780262232449
• ISBN10: 0262232448
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-02-10
• Publisher: The MIT Press

Summary

Le Corbusier's Handsoffers a poetic and personal portrait of Le Corbusier--a nuanced portrayal that is in contrast to the popular image of Le Corbusier the aloof modernist. The author knew Le Corbusier intimately for thirty years, first as his draftsman and main assistant, later as his colleague and personal friend. In this book, written in the mid-1980s, Wogenscky remembers his mentor in a series of revealing personal statements and evocative reflections unlike anything that exists in the vast literature on Le Corbusier. Wogenscky draws a portrait in swift, deft strokes--50 short chapters, one leading to the next, one memory of Le Corbusier opening into another. Appearing and reappearing like a leitmotif are Le Corbusier's hands--touching, taking, drawing, offering, closing, opening, grasping, releasing: "It was his hands that revealed him. . . . They spoke all his feelings, all the vibrations of his inner life that his face tried to conceal." Wogenscky writes about Le Corbusier's work, including the famous design of the chapel at Ronchamp, his ideas for high-density Unités d'Habitationlinked to the center of a "Radiant City," and his "Modulor" system for defining proportions--which Wogenscky compares to a piano tuner's finding the exact relation between sounds. He remembers the day Picasso spent with Le Corbusier at the Marseilles building site--"All day long they outdid one another in a show of modesty," he observes in amazement. He adds, speaking for himself and the others present, "We were inside a double energy field." And Wogenscky writes about Le Corbusier more personally. "I have spent years trying to understand what went on in his mind and in his hand," he tells us. With Le Corbusier's Hands, Wogenscky gives us a unique record of an enigmatic genius.

Author Biography

André Wogenscky was a French architect and Le Corbusier's assistant for 20 years.

Table of Contents

Height	1	(2)
His Hand	3	(1)
His Step	4	(1)
His Personality	5	(1)
His Hands	6	(1)
Touching	7	(1)
Taking	8	(1)
Body	9	(2)
Effort	11	(1)
Bitterness	12	(3)
Meanders	15	(2)
The Sea	17	(1)
Frankness	18	(2)
Building Oneself	20	(3)
Open Hand	23	(1)
Picasso	24	(1)
Candidness	25	(2)
Alone and In Silence	27	(2)
Joy	29	(1)
Intuitive and Calm	30	(1)
Work	31	(4)
The Drawing Hand	35	(1)
Envelope	36	(1)
House and Sun	37	(2)
Unity	39	(1)
Radiant City	40	(2)
The Other Architect	42	(1)
History	43	(2)
Universal	45	(1)
Functionalism	46	(3)
Machine	49	(1)
Utopia	50	(2)
Progress	52	(2)
Space	54	(3)
Form	57	(1)
Beautiful	58	(1)
Void	59	(1)
Skin	60	(3)
A Gift	63	(1)
Nungesser and Coli	64	(3)
His Mother	67	(1)
Light	68	(1)
Modulor	69	(4)
Music	73	(3)
Poetry	76	(2)
Becoming	78	(1)
Continuum	79	(1)
Aesthetic State, Poetic State	80	(1)
Ineffable Space	81	(2)
Right Angle	83	(4)
About the Author	87	(2)
Notes	89	(3)
Captions	92