2/25/16 The concomitant publication in 2015 of three books about Le Corbusier, all of them critical of his ideological failings, triggered heated polemics focusing on his engagement with the leading political forces of the first half of the twentieth century. Yet the view held by these authors, for whom Le Corbusier was a man viscerally committed to far-right groups, does not stand up to a more comprehensive analysis of his political passions. Le Corbusier was also engaged in a cyclical flirtation with the Left and other forces. Perhaps the time has come to consider him less as an agent of political power than a manipulator who tried to exploit political powers in order to achieve his own architectural and urban goals. Jean-Louis Cohen is Sheldon H. Solow Professor in the History of Architecture at New York University, specializing in nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture and urbanism in Germany, France, Italy, Russia and North America, as well as contemporary issues in architecture, town planning, and landscape design. He is also a Chevalier des Arts & Lettres in France and a member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome and the Russian Academy of Architecture. He is author of several books and was curator of the 2013 exhibition Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York. Image: Le Corbusier, project for a monument to Paul Vaillant-Couturier, 1938, partial perspective view. © Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris.

Comments

1. The inability of these researchers to decide which part of the political spectrum Corbusier belongs on derives not from an ambiguity in Corb's feelings - he was decidedly a totalitarian, the ultimate statist and central planner - no the difficulty of placing him on the Left or the Right comes from the failures of the traditional Left/Right political spectrum to accurately encompass all political viewpoints. A more useful model with which to evaluate political leanings is the Nolan Chart, which tracks both Left/Right as well as Statist/Individualist - it is a diamond shape, a two dimensional chart instead of the typical one-dimension normally used. Though still not perfect, it is a much more powerful tool for understanding the politics of a given philosophy.
2. This is a high level lecture. Thank you so much for posting it. Remembering my courses of history of architecture, I understand why I had to redo my homework on "Urbanisme", Le Corbusier's book promoting his "plan voisin". Now I know I should have made a third try.