Perret and His Artist-Clients: Architecture in the Age of Gold

Abstract

Among Auguste Perret's papers is a letter from Le Corbusier thanking him for a brief holiday spent in the south of France in May 1915 as Perret's guest. The importance of this visit for the development of Le Corbusier's Dom-ino project has been noted by several writers. It is, however, important in another way. The holiday was spent at Saint-Clair, near Le Lavandou, the home of the painter Theo van Rysselberghe, who had lent it to Perret so that he might recuperate from an illness (Fig. 1). At Saint-Clair, escaping from a cold Swiss spring and the unfolding horror of the war, and surrounded by works of art, Le Corbusier discussed architecture with his former teacher in a setting of unspoiled natural beauty. A tiny sketch contained in Le Corbusier's letter evokes the place: sea, mountains, and luxuriant vegetation viewed through the enormous window of a studio filled with paintings and objets d' art. Here, it seems, Le Corbusier's fascination with the world of art was incubated; significantly, it occurred under the aegis of Perret.