Le Corbusier

Out of all artists, designers and architects that were active in during th 20th century Le Corbusier was one of the most outstanding figures as he had significantly influenced architecture as we know it these days.  This weekend I went to his exhibition in  Pushkinsky museum.  I wanted to learn more about this famous individual. In spite of the fact that the exposition there was rather modest as only a small part of the museum was devoted to it, it is still more than possible to understand the way the artist worked.

A great deal of the exposition is devoted to sketches and technical drawings of his architectural masterpieces. There is no need to say how professional and precise they are, yet what must to be noticed is the great diversity of techniques that were used for recording ideas. Sketches embedded into photographs so that they look as a single image,  blueprints combined with sketches of landscapes,  pictures of models implemented into drawings of a space were it is meant to belong and lots of other captivating methods.

There is also a whole collection of mockups and models of Corbusier's buildings produced by various contemporary masters. They vary from soulless, yet perfect, tiny 3d printed models to roughly done wooden models presenting a concept for a new architectual "face" in Paris.  From recently casted textured plaster models that describe all the materials by means of relief and shadowing, to thirty year old precisely painted mockups made by the great master himself- this exhibition has the lot.

As Le Corbusier was one of the pioneers of modern architecture his name is most commonly associated with this very craft. In fact the contribution of this outstanding character is not limited by this area only. The exhibit presents  furniture and other examples of product design produced very recently yet to his ideas, sketches and prototypes. It is also possible to a vast range of his written works- articles, books, essays.

"Cassina" is the company that nowadays produces most pieces of product design by Le Corbusier 

  Among all the creations that could be observed in this museum there are also artistic sculptures made mainly of wood as well as paintings, that in my opinion are extremely contrasting to his other creations, his "design" creations. Their appearance will never tell you that the person who created them is in fact a person of precise work and flawless measurements. The loose shapes of objects and absolute absence of perspective of any sorts looks as if the artist was relaxing from strict the nature of his own architecture.