Le Corbusier at table, Zrich 1960

Le Corbusier - Ren Burri

A Dialogue
24 March to 24 June 2006
Fondation Le Corbusier - Paris
Ren Burri, Swiss photographer, born in 1933 and studied from 1950 to 1954 at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zrich in the famous class taught by Hans Finsler and Alfred Willimann. Has been a member of Magnum since 1959 and lives in Paris and in Zrich. First photoreportage on Le Corbusier in 1955 (Ronchamp). Has published numerous portraits and articles in major international magazines: special issues of the monthly Du (including Koh Samui and Picasso), portfolios in Camera. Publications include Les Allemands, 1962, Les Gauchos, 1968, Che Guevara, 1997, 77 Strange Sensations, 1998 and Le Corbusier, 1999. Large-scale retrospectives and monographs in 1984 (Ren Burri, One World) and in 2004 (Ren Burri, Photographs). Has directed several films, including Two Faces of China, 1968. Chevalier de lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres, 1991, Dr. Erich Salomon Prize, 1998. Burri also practises the art of collage.

hile still a student, the artist and press photographer Ren Burri became interested in the already mythical figure of Le Corbusier. From 1955 onwards, he frequently had the opportunity of photographing him on different occasions, in his private life and his work as a painter, in his architects studio, on the La Tourette building site or at the inauguration of Ronchamp. Particularly in the years around 1959-1960, when Burri was a youthful member of the legendary Magnum agency, he displayed great sensitivity in his approach to the master who, quite simply, had come to embody the myth of the architect. This exhibition presents a selection of the pictures resulting from this fruitful dialogue, evidence of the strong congenial bond that developed between Le Corbusier and his chronicler, who brought to the task all his patience and all his art. The choice of photographs favours a more personal view of the artistarchitect, illustrating at the same time the working methods of a great photographer discreet, rapid, unexpected. Such is Ren Burri. These images afford us rare glimpses, biographical snapshots that are little, if at all known. Going about his daily activities in his artists studio under the roofs of the rue Nungesser-et-Coli, Le Corbusier is prepared, for once, not to be in absolute control not that he is

under any illusion about just what he is revealing to the ears and eyes of his visitor. Taking us round the private apartments, he puts on a little act and then doesnt know how to conclude it. He is also seen in his architects studio in the rue de Svres a magical space from which emerged so many architectural masterpieces with a pencil in his hand, talking to his collaborators. He even lets himself be taken unawares in the course of his solitary journeying. One or other of these icons is there to greet the visitor in the hall of the Maison La Roche, while the snaps taken in the privacy of the rue Nungesser-et-Coli can be seen in the dining room. Objects from his private collection and the painting entitled Vzelay (which can be seen in the large colour portrait on view in the hall) are further reminders of his informal side. In the anteroom to the gallery is a series showing him in action as a painter. In the gallery, the pictures and the furniture in Le Corbusiers little office illustrate the daily work of his architect's office. Spread out on the marble table is an album folded concertina-wise, a tribute to the master by Ren Burri. In the library on the second floor are documents evoking his many journeys. Others recall the holiday atmosphere of RoquebruneCap-Martin.

Ronchamp, Inauguration of the Notre-Dame du Haut Chapel, 1955

ENTRANCE HALL

ICONS

The photographs in the entrance hall are evidence of the originality of Ren Burris vision. Architecture for him is always an opportunity for telling stories. In the famous photograph taken on 25 June 1955 at the inauguration of the Notre-Dame-du-Haut chapel at Ronchamp, the only part shown of the building itself is the concrete sails of the huge shell invading the upper part of the picture. The lower part is taken up by the crowd of pilgrims forming a characteristic compact mass, in which the curve of the roof is echoed by the shape of the womens hats and, with perfect symmetry, by a large umbrella.

In 1959, Burri is fascinated by the unceasing movements of children playing on the terrace roof of the Cit Radieuse in Marseille and captures the play of their movements, perceived as part of a world of archetypal forms, of spaces closed and open, ascending and descending, concave or convex, planes horizontal or in this case sloping. He is never satisfied unless he can succeed in capturing perfectly the vibration of animated things. On the coloured banner is a portrait of Le Corbusier made in 1959 in the dining room of his flat in the rue Nungesser-et-Coli.

Paris 16e, 24 rue Nungesser-et-Coli, 1959

DINING ROOM

LE CORBUSIER AT HOME

In 1934, Le Corbusier moved from Saint-Germain-des-Pres to live between Paris and BoulogneBillancourt, where he had just completed one of his first urban projects, the Molitor building. The apartmentstudio on two floors designed by him on Ville Radieuse principles, at the top of a typically Parisian block of flats, is indeed resolutely futurist in its conception, with its large glasswalled faades and its open plan layout. In 1959 and 1960, nearly two years after the death of Yvonne Le Corbusier, Ren Burri was at last granted access to the private space the master had so jealously guarded.

In the photographs from this session Le Corbusier can be seen successively showing to the visitor the vestibule, the drawing room and the dining room. In the dining room is the painting entitled Vzelay, 1939, used by Burri as a background to his large colour portrait of the architect. Le Corbusier is leaning against the white marble table, before leading us towards the bedroom, reached through a revolving cupboard. As he proceeds, Le Corbusier everywhere draws our attention to the various objects in his private collection, carefully arranged in niches contrived for them.

Paris 16e, 24 rue Nungesser-et-Coli, 1960

ANTEROOM TO THE GALLERY

A WORKSHOP FOR PATIENT INQUIRY

Le Corbusiers apartment-studio, at N 24 rue Nungesser-et-Coli, was conceived as two distinct spaces, a studio on one side and a dwelling area on the other. The two areas could be isolated from each other by large revolving doors. The entrance hall communicated with the roof garden via a spiral staircase. Arriving one day for an appointment with the architect, Burri found the front door open. When working in his vaulted studio, as he did almost every afternoon, Le Corbusier took care to avoid being disturbed. In the studio are paintings of various periods stacked pell-mell against the imitation bricks of the partition wall, a painters materials, improvised work plans scattered seemingly at random on the white stone tiles, two

old chests of drawers, wooden sculptures, a man over seventy wearing an American woollen shirt with black and white checks. Burri quietly begins taking pictures, gradually getting closer to his subject finally Le Corbusiers voice breaks the spell: Ah, there you are. The photographers unobtrusive approach is recorded in nine successive shots: Le Corbusier is seen dyeing sheets of newspaper, pieces of which are to be inserted in a collage spread out on a makeshift table. This sequence is perhaps the most vivid testimony of Le Corbusiers working methods. And, without being taken in by the reporters subterfuge, he shows himself as wholly natural and trusting.

Paris 7e, 35 rue de Svres. Atelier 35 S, 1959

GALLERY

STUDIO, 35 RUE DE SVRES

Le Corbusiers architects studio, which he had occupied since 1924, had been set up along the full length of a corridor - nearly 41 metres - in a disused part of a Jesuit monastery built behind Nos 33/35 rue de Svres. It was on the first floor, backed on to Saint-Ignace church and overlooked an inner courtyard. In 1948 Le Corbusier executed a large wall painting on the back wall. At about the same time, he set aside the first third of the studio to house accomodation for a secretary and for the manager of his architects office, keeping for himself a small office with no window.

When Burri photographed the studio in 1959 and 1960, Le Corbusier had, in addition to his own, taken over the managers office, over which towered a huge window going up to the ceiling. A photograph shows Le Corbusier working with Joseph Oubrerie, bending over a drawing board. Burri was aiming to capture the creative moment, something that could not be taken for granted, even with this architect of genius.

Kloten airport, Zrich, 1960

LIBRARY

EN VOYAGE

The tireless traveller is conjured up in a handful of pictures that are on display in Raoul la Roches library on the second floor of the house. In one, taken at the Gare de Lyon in 1959, Le Corbusier is seen consulting his diary before leaving for the La Tourette building site with Ren Burri. In another he can be seen, now en route aboard the Train Bleu, noting down his ideas in one of his innumerable notebooks. In another photograph the master appears with a roll of papers under his arm, surrounded by young admirers. He is at the foot of the hill of Ronchamp and it is 25th June 1955, the date of the inauguration ceremony of the Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut. There are two snapshots showing Le Corbusier at Zrich in 1960. In one, he has just landed at Kloten airport in an Air India Super Constellation after a flight from the Himalayas lasting

29 hours. Waiting to meet him are Heidi Weber and Willy Boesiger. The other photograph appears in the poster for this Exhibition, and shows him seated in a restaurant in the neighbourhood of Zrich. Le Corbusier has come to inspect the site on which his last work is to be constructed, after which he will go on to celebrate the publication by Girsburger of a study entitled Le Corbusier 1910-60. Finally, there is Roquebrune-CapMartin, another magical place, where Le Corbusier spent his holidays beside the Mediterranean and where he died in 1965. Burri has photographed Thomas Rebutatos guinguette, Ltoile de Mer, and the Cabanon. Another photograph shows the grave designed by Le Corbusier in the graveyard in the old village at Roquebrune.

MEZZANINE GALLERY
Still life, 1965

In his painters studio, Le Corbusier created three-dimensional nature mortes using objects of all kinds. The worktables scattered all over his studio also resemble collages or installations. This is certainly true of the assemblage immortalised in one of Ren Burris photographs, a wooden box surmounted by a sculpture. Le Corbusier had fixed paintings on either side of a box and used this improvised pedestal to exhibit the sculpture Ozon II that he and Joseph Savina had created in 1957. Burri could not fail to be captivated by this chaotic world. Work in progress is displayed in LAtelier de la Recherche Patiente. The bric-a-brac revealed in Burri's

photograph includes not just the masters spectacles and two magnifying glasses, but also a selection of purist sketches that Le Corbusier had just been showing to him. On the right are pencils held together by elastic bands - tools of the trade that accompanied Le Corbusier wherever he went - and, in the foreground, a leaf of notepaper with the heading: Le Corbusier, architect of Chandigarh, capital of the Punjab. These selected documents show both Le Corbusiers way of working and the photographers vision. The dialogue between the architect and the photographer was constantly enriched by views on art held in common.

The exhibition Le Corbusier - Ren Burri, A Dialogue was set up with the help of Ren Burri and the collaboration of Magnum Photos - Realization: Fondation Le Corbusier Jean-Pierre Duport, Prsident - Michel Richard, Director

Conception and texts: Arthur Regg - Documentation: Isabelle Godineau Communication: Christine Mongin, Paula de Sa Couto - Frames and showcases: Eric Galliache English translation: Malcolm Stuart - Graphics: Bernard Artal Copyright FLC-ADAGP / Ren Burri-Magnum Photos

FONDATION LE CORBUSIER
8-10 square du Docteur Blanche - 75016 Paris Tl. : 01 42 88 41 53 - Fax : 01 42 88 33 17 www.fondationlecorbusier.fr

A souvenir of Egypt

Paris 7e, 35 rue de Svres, 1959

UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES
Relations between Le Corbusier and his photographers were not always simple. The masters mistrustfulness increased with age and he defended his private domain with the same intransigence as his personal image. In Burris case, the young mans provoking interpretations of architecture as narratives filled with living beings bore little resemblance to the sober compositions one had a right to expect from professional photographers: volumes assembled under the light. Le Corbusiers irritated reaction was to exclaim Is he making fun of me?, until one fine day he began to take an interest in interpretations of this kind. Burri succeeded in creating a privileged relationship with the architect and this made it possible for him to produce original shots of him. Yet the relationship was to remain fragile and constantly apt to be called in question. One day Burri arrived at the studio with a fine round stone resembling a Pharaohs eye that he had brought back from the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. He was expecting to be met with enthusiasm - for years the architect had been collecting this kind of poetic reaction object - but Le Corbusier accepted the present with a grunt and carelessly laid it to one side. Not long afterwards, however, Burri received a message inviting him to call at the studio. On entering the masters fabled cabinet, he found the object

occupying pride of place in the centre of the table. No words were spoken, but the two men had understood each other. Like many others in the course of their long relationship, this memory was to remain unforgettable for the young photographer. In 1959, Burri accompanied Le Corbusier in the Train Bleu from Paris to Lyon on a visit to the La Tourette building site. He took the opportunity of observing him as he talked, reflected or wrote in his notebook, which never left him. On a plate in the dining car, the architect made a drawing of the little house that he had built for his parents on the lakeshore at Corseaux. Burri carried off this trophy and treasured it lovingly in his library in Zrich. One day, returning from a trip, he discovered in its place what he took to be a second, untouched plate. Alas, the drawing had fallen prey to the zeal of his cleaning woman. The most interesting story involves a photoreportage that Burri succeeded in making in Le Corbusiers apartment-studio between 1959 and 1960. The images were first used in a very fine article by Sylvia Kugler, published in June 1961 in the Swiss monthly magazine Du. Le Corbusier showed no particular reaction on receiving his copy. At the end of the year 1961, when Burri sent him a greetings card showing a monk meditating in a Zen garden in the Japanese town of Kyoto, Le Corbusier was reminded of one of the photographs

En voyage, 1959

Wagon-lit plate, 1959

Glorification of the Virgin, 24 rue Nungesser et Coli, 1959

published in Du, in which he could be seen in his bedroom in front of a picture by Andr Bauchant, Glorification de la Vierge. Le Corbusier noted on the back of the card : Write to him - the LC/Bauchant photo equivocal. Later, on the 6th February 1962, his official reprimand was dispatched: My dear Burri, Thank you for your card showing bonze and Japanese garden. I have a serious reproach to make to you. In Du, in the article on Le Corbusier, you have produced a thoroughly tendentious photograph in which I seem to be praying to a Glorification of the Blessd Virgin by Bauchant, whereas I was actually turning round the lamp to light the picture. You might have abstained from giving such false evidence. Yet, immediately afterwards, Le Corbusier commissioned from him photographs of scale models he needed for his exhibition at the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs, together with several portraits, adding This is to give you some publicity, not me!

See also: Arthur Regg (ed.), Le Corbusier, Photographs by Ren Burri/Magnum. Moments in the Life of a Great Architect, French translation Catherine Courtiau, Ble, Berlin, Boston : Birkhuser, 1999. Arthur Regg (ed.), Ren Burri. Pour Le Corbusier, juin 1962 (leaflet), Baden : Edition Lars Mller, 2006.