Le Corbusier, Ruskin and Sublime Reason
“A house is a machine for living”
Le Corbusier (1887 -1965) • Known for his theoretical texts as well as his architectural works • Helped create the ‘International Style’ as well as the ‘Brutalist’ style
‘International Style’ works by Le Corbusier Villa Savoye (1929) Villa Stein (1927)
‘Brutalist’ works by Le Corbusier La Tourette (1957 -1960) Gov’t building at Chandigarh, in India (1952 -1959)
His only North American work is in Cambridge: Carpenter Center (at Harvard) (1962)
Very influential: Pruitt-Igoe, St. Louis (1954 -1972)
Boston City Hall (1968)
Reading Le Corbusier’s books • Vers une architecture (1923) • Urbanisme (1925)
Burke’s definition of the sublime • “The passions which belong to self-preservation turn on pain and danger; they are simply painful when their causes immediately affect us; they are delightful when we have an idea of pain and danger, without being actually in such circumstances; this delight I have not called pleasure, because it turns on pain, and because it is different enough from any idea of positive pleasure. Whatever excites this delight, I call sublime. ”
Le Corbusier said, • “I was overwhelmed, an enthusiastic rapture filled me. Not the rapture of the shining coachwork under the gleaming lights, but the rapture of power. The simple and ingenuous pleasure of being in the centre of so much power, so much speed. We are a part of it. We are part of that race whose dawn is just awakening. … Its power is like a torrent swollen by storms; a destructive fury. ” [at the beginning of Urbanisme]
John Ruskin (1819 -1900) • Prolific writer on aesthetics, art criticism • Known for his support of the Gothic Revival in England • Strong views on the importance of Christian morals along with quality worksmanship and the use of forms drawn from nature
Drawings by Ruskin (1877) A drawing of abstract lines from 1851 showing that “the most beautiful lines derive from nature”
Inspired by and in-keeping with Ruskin’s aesthetic: Tapestry by William Morris (1834 -1896)— arts and crafts movement England’s parliament, built during the Gothic Revival (1840)
Doesn’t seem to be any connection between the two • But, if you look at their writings, Le Corbusier uses the sublime in a way that’s similar to Ruskin • Also, similar biographical aspects between the two
Ruskin said, • “…whatever is in architecture fair or beautiful, is imitated from natural forms; and what is not so derived, but depends for its dignity upon arrangement and government received from human mind, becomes the expression of the power of that mind, and receives a sublimity high in proportion to the power expressed”
Biographical elements • Childhoods are similar—just an interesting comparison • Le Corbusier’s teacher’s ideology was very much in-keeping with Ruskin’s • Le Corbusier took Ruskin’s texts with him on a trip to Italy when he was 20 years old, which was very important for his creative development
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