The exhibition 'Le Corbusier – Mastering the image' comes to Delhi

On the occasion of the 50th death anniversary of Le Corbusier, the Embassy of Switzerland in India brings the exhibition Le Corbusier - Mastering the image to Delhi.

On the occasion of the 50th death anniversary of Swiss architect Le Corbusier, born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Embassy of Switzerland in India in collaboration with the Musée des beaux-arts of La Chaux-de-Fonds presents the exhibition 

'LE CORBUSIER - MASTERING THE IMAGE' 
at the Embassy of Switzerland Nyaya Marg, Chanakya Puri, Delhi.
Opening on 6 Nov at 6.30pm 
On view until 23 Nov 2015

Entry by registration only.
Please register at ndh.events@eda.admin.ch to attend. 

About the exhibition 
Visiting the exhibition "Le Corbusier - Mastering the Image", it's over 150 black and white and colored photographs that visitors can discover through its different sections. Many of the black and white photographs have been taken by Le Corbusier himself were shown for the first time in India, enhancing also the importance of Swiss born architect in India, and one of his most important construction of his career, the urban plan development and construction of the city of Chandigarh, in collaboration with his cousin, Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret, and British architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry.

Curated by the Musée des beaux-arts of La Chaux-de-Fonds the exhibition is a partial adaption of the exhibition "The Constructed image. Le Corbusier and Photography" curated by international specialists of Le Corbusier's work as well as photography that crossed their approach of a subject rarely studied until then. The different sections have been curated by Lada Umstätter (general curator), Tim Benton, Jean-Christophe Blaser, Veronique Boone, Catherine de Smet, Isabelle Godineau, Anouk Hellmann, Michel Richard, Arthur Rüegg, Klaus Spechtenhauser and Sophie Vantieghem. 

Le Corbusier (1887-1965) is one of the major figures of the twentieth century: his architectural practice and thought have profoundly influenced several generations of architects and urban planners, and his legacy still contributes in shaping contemporary environment.

Throughout his life, Le Corbusier (1887-1965) used images in a variety of ways. His travels were opportunities for him to collect a great many documents that he later used in his work as an architect, urbanist, theoretician and artist. Drawing from this vast iconographic reservoir to illustrate his writings and exhibitions, he developed innovative communication strategies. He supervised the documentation of his creation with a sharp, demanding eye, which makes him the genuine co-author of certain photographs devoted to his architecture.

Moreover, Le Corbusier also experimented with composition and lighting in his personal photographic work, which remains largely unpublished. The recent discovery of thousands of negatives now provides an opportunity to observe his creative processes and confront them with his pictorial work. For the architect, photography thus served both as a means of note-taking and as a tool for experimentation with forms. Beyond his own creative work, Le Corbusier was also one of the first to conscientiously and systematically construct his image and that of his works through the medium of photography, drawing on the work of several renowned photographers for this.

This legacy continues to stimulate contemporary photographers, who now revisit his work with the freedom that historical distance allows.