Page 82 - Studio International - July August 1970
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all it coincided with his friendship with Henry  The complete                        ingly illustrated by a photograph taken of his
      Moore. Read is sometimes said to have      architect                                 celebrated blackboard at the Atelier in the
      `made' Moore, since he was his publicist. It                                         Rue de Sevres. On this he had drawn, full size
      is conceivable that it happened the other way   Le Corbusier, Last Works  (The Complete   and in coloured chalks, the section through a
      round. In any case, their forty-year friend-  Architectural Works, Volume viii), by Willie   patient's room as he had planned it for Otto-
      ship demonstrated time and again that the   Boesiger. 208 pp. illus., Thames and Hudson,   lenghi's proposed hospital in Venice. Unlike
      work of the sculptor was the perfect comple-  £8 10s.                                the previous volumes, the eighth has many
      ment to the writing of the critic—much more   The Necessary Monument  by Theo Crosby,   illustrations in colour. At times, especially in
      so than, for instance, was Arp; Read had   128 pp. illus. Studio Vista, 45s., Hard covers,   those of Chandigarh, the quality of colour
      much less instinctive confidence in writing   21s. Paperback.                        reproduction is reminiscent of the pages of the
      about him. Read had his time with the                                                National Geographic Magazine. They are some-
      Surrealists, especially over the London sur-  The eighth volume of the 'Oeuvres completes'   times unnecessary, or unhelpful, as in the
      realist exhibition in 1936, but he didn't really   sees the completion of a publication venture   photographs of the exterior of a building in
      like Dada, or in any case couldn't take it   which has spanned four decades. Willie   the City Centre, Chandigarh, and the interior
      whole. He didn't like a nervous, excitable,   Boesiger, as a young architect, edited the first   of a classroom at Firminy-Vert. But they do
      jesting sort of art, and he continually emascu-  volume in 1929 and all but the third (edited   remove Le Corbusier's work from the realm
      lated Dada by limiting it to over-simple   by Max Bill), subsequently. Only this final   of black and white building which has
      gestures of defiance towards an academic   volume has not had the participation of the   virtually been the creation of the architect-
      establishment.                            original publisher, Dr H. Girsberger. If Le   ural press, to reveal the brilliance, even the
      He liked art that might have grown in his   Corbusier's  Vers une Architecture,  published   garishness, of his use of colour on the huge
      own back garden in Stonegrave. Not un-    when he was thirty-two, was the most       pivoting main gate to the Parliament build-
      naturally, he also liked the guiding lines of   influential single text in the whole of the   ing, or in the restless interior of the Council
      tradition of the modern art he himself had   modern movement in architecture, no vol-  Chamber. Here, green and brown hide seats
      lived through, and the departure of post-war   umes have been pored over with more atten-  alternate, the carpet is red, the tapestried
      painting from the modes which he described   tion, or discussed more excitedly, than these,   walls are indian red, the ceiling_ blue-green.
      as `exfoliation' from the 'call to order of   as they appeared at invervals of a few years.   The other tapestries are reproduced in strong
      Cézanne... Cubism, Futurism, Expression-  This final volume is something of an appendix   primaries, with the repetitive symbols of Le
      ism, Surrealism and Constructivism' was a   to the series. It fills in on a number of last   Corbusier's own iconography drawn upon
      nasty jolt to him. The 1964 'Painting of a   works, most of which have been completed   the squares of colour. Corbusier has had
      Decade' exhibition at the Tate resulted in a   after Le Corbusier's death in 1965. Of these   fewer followers in his use of colour than he has
      lecture (originally printed in this journal in   perhaps the most important are the Youth   in his handling of form; the present reproduc-
      1965) in which he expressed the feeling that   Centre and House of Culture, and L'Unité   tions may make few converts but they do
      we were at the end of the era in which those   d'Habitation at Firminy-Vert.         emphasise its importance in his total concep-
      styles predominated; the end was at hand;   The editor lays emphasis on the Museum of   tions.
      you could see it in 'stylistic excess', just as had   Knowledge and the Tower of Shadows in   Will the present final volume have the
      happened at the end of the Gothic period,   Chandigarh, for these projects, illustrated by   inspirational stimulation of its predecessors on
      and at the end of the Renaissance. It was   models and drawings, have not been published   the present generation of students and young
      quite an apocalyptic piece, and seemed hard   before. Where they are to stand is at present   architects? Perhaps not; there are many
      on that exhibition's Bownessian catholicity.   a barren wasteland, and is likely to remain so   projects illustrated which remain incomplete,
      He was wrong, in fact. I wish that Robin   for a long time to come.                  others which have been completed, but in
      Skelton, the editor of this symposium, who   Apart from these major works or projects   details, not entirely according to Corbusier's
      himself contributes a somewhat uneasy     there are others which are less well known, or   wishes. As if there was a sudden realisation
      EngLit piece on Read's poetry, had not    more modest in scale. Among these latter, are   that the master could not live forever, he was
      decided to print the ageing critic's 'The   the lock-keeper's station, and the customs and   showered with projects and invitations in the
      Limits of Permissiveness in Art', which will   navigation offices, of the sluice-gate of   last years of his life, not all of which he was
      not do. Its emotionally-loaded title stands   Kembs-Niffer on the Rhone-Rhine Canal.   able to carry much beyond the initial concep-
      guard over a stern condemnation of the    The keeper's station is a tightly articulated   tual stages. Yet even if students may gain
      Beckett M-trilogy, which he finds 'super-  vertical cluster which contrasts with the   more from earlier volumes which show all the
      ficially exciting but fundamentally boring'   broader sweep of the customs house roof; a   stages from sketch to completed building or
      (to swop the adjectives here would surely be   small complex of great formal clarity.   the detailed studies of projected works, there
      nearer the truth), together with Abstract   One of Le Corbusier's most striking works and   is still much that is thought-provoking here.
      Expressionism, Optical Art and Pop Art,   most exhilarating of spaces was his house in   `Le Corbusier changed architecture—and the
      which are condemned as 'pseudo-movements',   Zurich, built for Heidi Weber and completed   architect. That is why he was one of the prime
      `the creation of journalists'. Such sentiments   after his death. A brise-soleil was constructed   moving spirits of the age.' The words are
      were common enough in Read's last years,   of angular metal screens bolted to form a   those of André Malraux on September 1,
      and it's depressing to contrast them with the   crisply undulating roof. Beneath this extra-   1965, at his funeral. There is hardly an
      earlier man, whose generosity towards the   ordinary structure, which served as a protec-  architect living who would not agree with
      importance of art, both as product and    tion from the weather during the rest of the   them.
      activity, are saluted in some moving words   construction, the 'inhabitable structure' was
      from Henry Moore; Moore's few sentences   built. A strongly-expressed steel frame was   St Pancras Station, Manchester Town Hall,
      are so humane and sorrowful, so full of years   partially clad with sheets of brightly-enamelled   the Albert Memorial, the Prudential Insur-
      past, that they make one quite forget the   steel screens and glass, only the ramp and   ance building, some masterly, some absurd,
      grumpy and querulous last years of Read's   staircase being built in concrete. Today the   —these Victorian edifices provoke responses
      career, and make one quite forget that we are   building is used as a permanent exhibition   today ranging from hostility to condescending
      perhaps justified in being a trifle petulant   hall, the Centre Le Corbusier.       affection, sometimes even to grudging admira-
     about Read himself.  	q                    Le Corbusier was a most considerate designer:   tion.
     TIM HILTON                                 nothing was left to chance. This is illuminat-   `In our cities', writes Theo Crosby, 'the
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