Le Corbusier. A Study of the Decorative Art Movement in Germany

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The “Étude sur le mouvement d’art décoratif en Allemagne”, printed in 1912, was Le Corbusier’s first publication. The young architect lucidly analyses the German applied arts movement and its protagonists, such as Peter Behrens for whom he worked in
1910–11. The text is one of the most substantial documentations of the development of modern German design; at the same time, it provides entirely new insights into Le Corbusier’s early life.

This publication introduces the “Étude” in its first-ever English translation. An extensive illustrated commentary discusses Le Corbusier’s text in its context of applied arts, politics and architecture on the eve of the First World War. It reveals fascinating connections in the “Étude” between European history and the biography of the man who was perhaps the most influential architect of the twentieth century.