Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau, Le Corbusier's idea of a utopian housing unit.
All text reproduced from World's Fair magazine, Volume VIII, Number 3, Copyright 1988, World's Fair, Inc.
Expanded and revised version January 2000, by Arthur Chandler.
THE NEW SPIRIT
There can be no international exposition in Paris, it seems, without at least one dissident artist exhibiting in defiance of the authorities and official sanction. In 1855, it was Gustave Courbet who defied the juries by setting up his own gallery in plain view of the official exhibition of art. In 1867, it was Manet; in 1878, de Neuville and the military school of painting; in 1889, Gauguin; in 1900 (but with partial blessings of the city of Paris), Rodin. In 1925, it was Le Corbusier whose pavilion outraged the sensibilities of the authorities, and set in motion a debate about modern architecture that has continued in Paris to this day.
Le Corbusier had troubles with the exposition authorities from the start. After strenuous petitioning for exhibit space, he was finally granted one of the worst sites of the fair. Here Le Corbusier and his associates erected the Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau, and announced that this spirit's program was "to deny decorative art, and to affirm that architecture extends to even the most humble piece of furniture, to the streets, to the city, and to all." 9 The house of the future, he continues, must be a machine à habiter, a "machine for living," and not a three-dimensional backdrop for interior Decorators.
As exposition authorities laid eyes on Le Corbusier's cellule, they were horrified. The uncompromising geometry of the exterior was carried out mercilessly through the interior. A slab of stone cantilevered out over the living room, forming a kind of interior balcony. Boxlike furniture faced Juan Gris paintings on the wall, and stark Jacques Lipchitz sculptures adorned the otherwise Spartan Decor. Art Deco was nowhere to be seen. In its place was Le Corbusier’s uncompromising vision of modernism: less playful, more severe, more demanding in its adherence to the dominating presence of pure Form.
 'Plan Voisin de Paris' |
But the crowning audacity lay beneath the glass of the exhibit tables that Le Corbusier had placed strategically in the other part of his exhibit. Here, in his Plan Voisin de Paris, the upstart architect proposed the demolition of vast sections of Paris – especially the second, third, ninth and tenth arrondissements – and replaced these historic sections with Le Corbusier high-rise complexes on a grand scale. Each of the projected facilities would hold three thousand people, and free them spatially from the dead hand of the past. |
Most of French architectural authorities were incensed at this brazen attempt to destroy the history and character of Paris. To begin with, they ordered a 20-foot high fence to be erected around the entire Esprit Nouveau pavilion, in hopes of hiding the shameful spectacle from curious visitors. The French Minister of Fine Arts, however, had the fence removed. The international jury was astonished, but proposed to award the audacity with a first prize. The French Academy, annoyed that the fence had been removed, had its revenge by vetoing the international jury's vote. The end result was for Le Corbusier what every avant-garde French artist most desires: a succes de scandale. From that time forward, his reputation as a leading architect was confirmed, and Le Corbusier never wanted for commissions.
NOTES
9 Le Corbusier, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret: oeuvre complète, 1910-1929 (Zurich, 1960)
| True People Stories | Dress up Vanessa Anne Hudgens, And Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Stardoll, Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron plus create your own Hannah Montana, High School Musical and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody scenery makers. | Read DUI Lawyer, personal injury lawyer, and ghostwriter articles.| Let abogado Stephen Rodriguez help you with your case! | Visit WebsiteText.com for professional website content writer service.