Le Corbusier - Unite (PLANCHE 11)

Original Etching & Aquatint in colours, 1953, on Rives BFK (watermarked) paper, signed by the artist in pencil, with full margins

Size: Sheet : 22.5 x 18 in. (57.15 x 45.72 cm.)

Edition: 130; There were also 30 roman numeral signed and numbered copies on Rives paper: I/XXX - XXX/XXX. The very first 10 of these 30 sets (I/XXX - X/XXX) were reserved for Le Corbusier and his collaborators and contained an additional non-colored etching numbered in roman numerals (I/X - X/X)

Note: Le Corbusier was one of the fathers of Modern architecture, and is best known for his pioneering work in the International Style, but he was also a celebrated designer, painter, and printmaker. The Unité prints portfolio was conceived and printed following the construction of the Unité d’habitation in Marseilles in the 1950’s.This comes from a portfolio of 20 etchings. 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 Unité etchings celebrate organic arrangements in compositions that simply and masterfully blend colour, line and form.  The aquatints showcase Le Corbusier’s belief that “colour is an immediate and spontaneous expression of life.” These engravings incorporate still-life notions from his Purism days as well as depictions of women, a common theme throughout his work. “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.

Printed by: Aldo & Piero Crommelynck, Paris

Published by : Alain C. Mazo, Paris in 1965

Provenance:

1. Pace Gallery, Columbus, Ohio - Reference 43205 - Cost US$250 (Their label verso)
2. Prudential insurance Company of America - Art Number L-110 (Their label verso)

Public Collections: MOMA, New York

Condition: In good condition