Le Corbusier – Lessons in Modernism : Lessons in Modernism

An exploration of the friendship between Italian artist Costatino Nivola and Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier, and of the evolution of Le Corbusier's visual art.

Le Corbusier and Sardinian-born sculptor Costatino Nivola met in 1946 in New York. The Franco-Swiss architect was working with a team around Oscar Niemeyer on the project for the United Nations headquarters, the artist had been living there in exile since 1939. Their meeting marked the beginning of a life-long friendship between the two, with Le Corbusier sharing Nivola's Greenwich Village studio while working on the United Nations project and, in 1950, creating two murals in the kitchen of Nivola's East Hampton home. The artist put together a collection of some 300 drawings, six paintings, and six sculptures by his architect friend which today are held in various places across Europe and America. This book tells the story of the collection and explores its significance, thus contributing to understand the evolution of Le Corbusier's visual art and its impact on the reception of his work in America.