Le Corbusier

"Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of volumes brought together in light." — Le Corbusier

Born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, Le Corbusier (1887-1965) adopted his famous pseudonym after publishing his ideas in the review L'Esprit Nouveau in 1920. The few buildings he was able to design during the 1920s, when he also spent much of his time painting and writing, brought him to the forefront of modern architecture, though it was not until after World War II that his epoch-making buildings were constructed, such as the Unité d'Habitation apartment complex in Marseilles, and the chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:
a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
a concise biography


About the author:
In 1997, the French Minister of Culture appointed Jean-Louis Cohen to create the Cité de l'architecture—a museum, research, and exhibition center in Paris's Palais de Chaillot. Cohen's research has focused principally on 20th-century architecture and urban planning, and his studies on German and Soviet architectural cultures. The author and curator of numerous books and exhibitions on architecture, he is an internationally acknowledged authority on Le Corbusier's work.

About the editor:
Peter Gössel runs a practice for the design of museums and exhibitions. He is the editor of TASCHEN's monographs on Julius Shulman, R. M. Schindler, John Lautner and Richard Neutra, as well as the editor of the Basic Architecture Series.