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LE CORBUSIER(1887-1965)Deux femmes nues allongées
£10,000 - £15,000
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Adelaide Dunn
Associate Specialist, Head of Sale
LE CORBUSIER (1887-1965)
signed, inscribed and dated 'Vézelay 1939 Le Corbusier' (lower right)
watercolour, brush and ink and wash on paper
49 x 64.7cm (19 5/16 x 25 1/2in).
Executed in Vézelay in 1939
Footnotes
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Eric Mouchet.
Provenance
Heidi Weber, Zurich (probably acquired directly from the artist).
Private collection.
Anon. sale, Galerie Widmer, Zurich, 8 May 2009, lot 70.
Private collection, Switzerland (acquired at the above sale).
Deux femmes nues allongées is a preparatory study for Le Corbusier's major oil painting Deux femmes étendues (1936–1940, Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris). The compositional parallels are striking: the relaxed yet rhythmic alignment of the bodies asymmetrically echoing one another, as well as the sculptural modelling of forms, later amplified in the finished canvas. With its subtle washes and confident economy of line, the present work captures the lyrical intensity of Le Corbusier's engagement with the human form.
Deux femmes nues allongées also carries exceptional provenance, having once formed part of the celebrated collection of Heidi Weber, one of Le Corbusier's closest friends, patrons and confidantes. Weber was a vital force in shaping the reception of the artist's work, championing him not only as a groundbreaking architect but also as a painter, sculptor and designer of rare originality. Their long collaboration culminated in the realisation of the Centre Le Corbusier in Zurich, conceived in direct partnership with one another and officially inaugurated as the Heidi Weber Museum. Works emerging from Weber's collection, which was assembled with profound discernment and a privileged access to Le Corbusier's studio, are rare conduits to the most celebrated chapters of Le Corbusier's oeuvre.
