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Overview"Le Corbusier's first trip to the United States in 1935 is generally considered a failure because it produced no commissions. The experience nevertheless had a profound effect on him, both personally and professionally. Sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Le Corbusier promoted his ideas through a lecture tour, exhibition, and press conferences, as well as in meetings with industrialists, housing reformers, New Deal technocrats, and editors. His lectures were watershed events that advanced the cause of European modernism. Yet he returned to France empty-handed and published a bittersweet account, Quand les cath drales taient blanches: voyage au pays des timides (""When the Cathedrals Were White: Journey to the Country of Timid People""), which faulted America for lacking the courage to adopt his ideas. In this major study of Le Corbusier's American tour, Mardges Bacon reconstructs his encounter with America in all its fascinating detail. Through extensive archival research and interviews, she presents a critical history of the tour as well as a nuanced and intimate portrait of the architect. Drawing on the methods of microhistory, she also considers how small ordinary events affect larger biographical, architectural, and cultural developments. Bacon notes that Le Corbusier's dialogue with America was drafted within a spirited European discourse on am ricanisme. She contends that the trip validated his concept of a ""second machine age"" that would unite standardized industrial methods with a new humanism. Le Corbusier's subsequent work, she suggests, reflected an ""Americanization,"" evidenced by the introduction of tension structures and the textured skyscraper conceived as an integrated system with functions articulated. She also defines Le Corbusier's role in the debate over New York City high-rise public housing." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Mardges BaconPublisher: MIT Press Ltd Imprint: MIT Press Edition: New edition Dimensions: Width: 22.90cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 1.197kg ISBN: 9780262523424ISBN 10: 0262523426 Pages: 424 Publication Date: 28 February 2003 Recommended Age: From 18 years Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: No Longer Our Product Availability: Out of stock  The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available. Table of ContentsReviewsMardges Bacon... conveys an authentic sense of the period in this exhaustively researched and engagingly written study of a telling episode in 20th-century architectural transformations. - Martin Filler, New York Times Book Review [T]he book's breadth of knowledge and attention to detail are faultless. - Elain Harwood, The Architects' Journal Author InformationMardges Bacon is Professor of Architecture and Matthews Distinguished University Professor at Northeastern University. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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