Le Corbusier: Architecture and Form (Pelican Books, 1960) by Peter Blake is an analysis of the development of Corbu’s architectural thinking. The book is the first volume in a series of monographs on three masters of modern architecture (see the other two volumes on Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe).
In the battle for honest standards in modern architecture Le Corbusier, who has been called ‘the Leonardo da Vinci of our epoch’, has played a unique role. Largely because of him we now regard vast blocks of reinforced concrete, balanced on slim stilts, or ‘superimposed villas’ as being almost the normal. In this well-illustrated study of ‘a plastic artist of supreme authority’, a distinguished American architect shows how ‘Corbu’ has advanced his ideas almost as much in print and in plans as he has by the standing examples of the chapel at Ronchamp, the apartment block at Marseille, or the planned city of Chandigarh. He introduces us to a talented and provocative personality who, though influenced by such movements as Art Nouveau, Machine Art, and Cubism, has never diverged very far from the highroad of Mediterranean architecture.
– Peter Blake, Le Corbusier: Architecture and Form (Pelican Books, 1960), text from the back cover
The text is in English. The book is illustrated with black-and-white photographs and architectural drawings.
The copy in our stock is still usable, although clearly worn out. The pages are clean without any markings, but the glueing of the binding is fragile and the covers are detached from the volume. The covers show shelf wear, edge wear, and other signs of use.
