5 Le Corbusier, ‘Veelkleurigheid in architectuur’, in Jan de Heer, Kleur en architectuur (Rotterdam, 1986). For an extensive review of this subject and a pubication of the text ‘Polychromie architecturale’ in three languages (French, German, and English), see Rüegg, A., Le Corbusier - Polychromie architecturale (Basle, 1997). A (slightly improved) translation into English of Le Corbusier’s article, taken from Rüegg’s book, has been included in Appendix V. 6 Hitchcock, H.R. and Philip Johnson, <strong>The</strong> International Style (New York, 1960), 75. 7 Léger, F., ‘Mauern, Architekten und Maler’ in Mensch. Machine. Malerei (Bern, 1971), 140; originally published as Fonctions de la peinture (Paris, 1965). complete picture of Le Corbusier’s ambitions in this field. Arthur Rüegg regards the set-up of the samples book as the testament of the Purist colour theory and, in doing so, implies that this also marked the conclusion of a certain period with regard to colour. In the same year that the Salubra collection appeared, 1931, an exhibition on modern architecture was held in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. <strong>The</strong> book covering the exhibition, <strong>The</strong> International Style by Hitchcock and Johnson, appeared a year later. Le Corbusier’s villas were allocated a particularly conspicuous place among the modern architecture of the twenties. In the book, the painted polychromy in modern architecture was reduced to two positions: ‘In Holland and Germany small areas of bright elementary colors were used; in France large areas of more neutral color. <strong>The</strong> two practices were in large part due to the influence of two different schools of abstract painting, as represented on the one hand by Mondriaan and the other by Ozenfant. In both cases colors were artificially applied and the majority of wall surfaces remained white.’⁶ And the treatise continues with the remark that colour is currently (1932) used to a much lesser extent. ‘It ceased to startle and began to bore.’ Neither Le Corbusier nor <strong>The</strong>o van Doesburg, who had died just previously, in March 1931, received the honour that was due to him. After all, although Le Corbusier and Ozenfant severed relations with one another as far back as 1925, Purist painting was their joint progeny, and the ‘polychromie architecturale’ was exclusively Le Corbusier’s work. And although Mondriaan had written a great deal on the absorption of painting in architecture and the layout of his own studio was a mixed metaphor of this notion, <strong>The</strong>o van Doesburg was actually the driving force behind the various colour experiments in the architecture of De Stijl. Nevertheless, <strong>The</strong> International Style had introduced a simple reduction and dichotomy in ideas into general circulation. In May 1933, the painter Fernand Léger gave a lecture in Zurich entitled ‘Les rapports de l’architecture et de la peinture’, which was also referred to as ‘Le mur, l’architecte, le peintre’ in its written form. <strong>The</strong> lecture was presented on the occasion of an exhibition of his work being shown there. In some of Léger’s previous articles on the same theme, he had manoeuvred close to the position adopted by Le Corbusier. But as the twenties progressed, he began to experience increasing scepticism with regard to painting in architecture. Half of the lecture in Zurich was expressly directed over the heads of the audience toward architects in general. He did not talk about colour but rather about the blank wall, about the division of labour, and about the social implications of modern architecture. Léger wondered why architecture, painting and sculpture were no longer interconnected, as they had been in the past, and he gave architects the blame for this. He observed that modern architecture had expanded to cover the field of urban planning. In doing so, he pointed to the schism between modern architecture and the lifestyle of the common man who was consigned, helplessly, to an empty space with blank walls within modern architecture. Painters were needed to fill this void, claimed Léger. In his opinion, based on the principle of specialization, it was not ideal to have the architect determine the colours. ‘<strong>The</strong> painter is the arch-enemy of all dead surfaces and is still awaiting your assignment.’⁷ Do architects actually know what it means to create build- 10
11 Fernand Léger, Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier near Carcassonne FLC L4-14-16-001 Alfred Roth, Der Ton, 1933 Alfred Roth, Der Farbton, 1933 Alfred Roth, Die Farbe, 1933
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