the year 2015

polychromie architecturale

When at the height of his creative output, Le Corbusier was asked by the renowned wallpaper manufacturer Salbura to design a palette for a Le Corbuiser color collection. In fact, he designed two: the "Claviers de couleurs" in 1931, with 43 shades, and the Salbura collection in 1959 with 20. Even within these seemingly limited spectra, Le Corbusier would not confine himself: instead, he organized the different tones on sample cards so that three to five colors could be isolated or combined using a sliding band. Each of these cards (his "color keyboards") produced a different color atmosphere and a specific spatial effect. The Le Corbuiser Polychromie Architecturale, the longawaited edition of Le Corbusier's chromatic legacy, was first reprinted in 1997, quickly sold out, and is an avidly sought collector's item. Now available in a revised edition, this exquisite three-volume boxed set contains chromatically perfect samples of the wallpapers, color illustrations, sketches, and slide bands, all produced by a high-quality printing process, and then assembled and bound by hand. This extraordinary adventure into color and the creative vision of modernism's greatest architect includes texts by Le Corbusier and a scholarly introduction by editor Arthur Ruegg.