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Pratt Premieres Le Corbusier Exhibition August 30

by | Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Le Corbusier

Starting August 30, Le Corbusier will be getting the Pratt Institute treatment when the renowned Brooklyn-based A&D school premieres its free, three part exhibition on the work of the Swiss-French architect, urbanist, designer, writer, and painter, born Charles Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who many also happen to consider the most important architect of the 20th century.

Le Corbusier's Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut; photo by Ivan R. Shumkov

Dubbed “Le Corbusier—Miracle Boxes,” the multidisciplinary exhibition is being billed as the first New York exhibition dedicated entirely to the work of the master architect. It will run through October 15 at the school’s Higgins Hall and feature in-depth looks at more than 50 of Corbu’s public buildings, including all of his exhibition pavilions, museums, theaters, cultural centers, monuments, and temples, as well as documentaries on his life and work.

Phillips Pavilion in Brussels; National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo

It will also include the Miracle Box, a full-scale construction, based on Corbu’s smallest architectural project, a seven-and-a-half-foot cube that was originally located inside his Paris atelier. The reproduction will also feature Corbu’s 1947 sculpture “Ozon” and the 1932 painting “Verre,” which were both originally featured in the “working cell,” as he called it. The Miracle Box will be on display outside of the Pratt Library in Brooklyn coinciding with the start of the exhibition on August 30 and will be installed in the library’s lobby as part of the school’s permanent collection following the exhibition.

Couvent Sainte Marie de la Tourette in Eveux; photo by Ivan R. Shumkov

Additional free events will accompany the exhibition, including an opening lecture delivered by its curator, Pratt adjunct associate professor of architecture Ivan Shumkov, on September 13, and an October 11 symposium, “Voyage Through Le Corbusier,”  that will feature professors from universities all over the globe, including Kenneth Frampton, Mary McLeod, Jose Oubrerie, Stanislaus von Moos, and Deborah Gans.

Le Corbusier

All images courtesy of Fondation Le Corbusier.