Icon, 1946 Signed, located and dated lower left: Le Corbusier / New York / 46 Washed pastel and pencil on fine vellum paper 56 x 45 cm
Born in Switzerland, Jeanneret trained as an artist, then travelled extensively, and finally settled in Paris. In 1917 he met the painter and designer Amédée Ozenfant, with whom he developed "Purism", an aesthetic that promoted simple geometric forms. In 1920 they founded L'Esprit Nouveau, a magazine that proposed functionalist ideas in architecture and city planning. Articles were signed with pseudonyms, and Jeanneret chose Le Corbusier, his mother's forbear, a name he retained thereafter. Articles written during the next 5 years led to his idea of the house as "a machine for living".
