Drawing By Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier (1887–1965) Pencil drawing on paper. This pencil drawing illustrates the most intimate and spontaneous dimension of Le Corbusier's graphic work, where the line, reduced to its essence, becomes the primary tool for capturing human presence. The figure, rendered with a characteristic economy of means, unfolds within a network of supple, angular contours that construct a form that is both monumental and austere. The volumes, suggested rather than described, reveal the mastery of gesture and the attention paid to the relationships between forms, proportions, and balance. The sheet reveals a direct, almost meditative approach, in which the artist develops a visual vocabulary made up of structural simplifications: a stylized face, a geometricized torso, limbs evoked by a few firm lines. This synthetic approach, typical of his graphic work, transposes Le Corbusier's architectural thought, based on the search for a rigorous and poetic visual order, into the realm of drawing. The centered and stable composition highlights the figure as a sculptural element, while the spaces left open around it reinforce the impression of balance and luminous calm. Here we find the subtle tension between abstraction and figuration that runs through his work on paper, where each line testifies to a desire for formal reduction aimed at reaching a more essential truth. This drawing thus constitutes a representative example of Le Corbusier's graphic practice: an art of clear, expressive lines, where apparent simplicity conceals a profound reflection on the body, space, and structure. Formerly in the collection of Joseph Savina, a French cabinetmaker and sculptor who collaborated with Le Corbusier. Dimensions of the drawing (visible area): height 23.3 cm, width 21 cm