Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret)
Unité
1963-1965
Series of 20 etchings, thereof 17 colour aquatint etchings, on wove paper with watermark "BFK RIVES" Each 41.8 x 31.6 cm (each approx. 57 x 45.5 cm) Individually framed under glass. 16 sheets signed, all numbered. Proof 96/130. - The complete series extremely rare. The series comprising 20 graphic works was etched by the artist between 1963 and 1965 and printed by Aldo and Piero Crommelynck. Published by Alain C. Mazo, Paris 1965. - Without portfolio and text sheets.
Along with the portfolio “Poème de l'ange droit”, published in 1955, the series “Unité” is among Le Corbusier's most important graphic works. The artist began with the pastel-chalk drawings on which the prints were based in 1953, while he was still at work on “Poème”. The 20-part series contains characteristic motifs which Le Corbusier repeatedly explored: the hand, bull, reclining female nude and found objects, such as stones and pine cones. The artist united these into surrealistic visual worlds in luminous colours.
“The 'recherche patiente', the untiring search for the valid form is characteristic of how Le Corbusier worked as an artist. He repeatedly takes up the motif - often years later - and works on it in different techniques and in countless variations. Thus, all the important motifs continue all the way into his late work and, accordingly, his graphic sheets.” (Hansjörg Gadient, in: Le Corbusier: Das grafische Werk, Zurich/Montreal 1988, p. 14).
Certificate
We would like to thank Tomas Rabara, Galerie Placart, Zurich, for additional information.
Provenance
Private Collection, Baden Wuerttemberg
Exhibitions
Chicago 1969 (International Galleries), Le Corbusier - "Unité", cat.