Turin, at Pinacoteca Agnelli exhibition on Le Corbusier's objects and travels

From April 27, the exhibition Le Corbusier opens to the public at the Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin. Travels, Objects and Collections dedicated to the life of Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris; La Chaux-de-Fonds, 1887 - Roccabruna, 1965), the Franco-Swiss architect and father of the Modern Movement, and the ideas to objects that inspired his designs. The exhibition, curated by artist Cristian Chironi, is organized by Pinacoteca Agnelli in collaboration with the Fondation le Corbusier in Paris, which preserves most of the documents and objects that belonged to the architect. FIAT is the project’s main partner. The exhibition remains open until September 5, 2021.

The exhibition itinerary runs along the entire third floor of the Art Gallery and traces Le Corbusier’s life, centered on his continuous search for ideas and inspirations, recounting it through objects, drawings and photographs. The objects in the exhibition were rediscovered and enhanced following the Fondation’s restoration ofLe Corbusier’s Paris apartment on Rue Nungesser et Coli. These are stones, pieces of wood, shells, metal objects, glass, materials that he collected, considering them “objets à réaction poétique” (objects with poetic reaction) capable of triggering the creative process in him. For example, the crab carapace that is on display in the exhibition gave rise to the idea for the famous roof of the Ronchamp Cathedral. Alongside the objects will be visible the paper archive of sources of inspiration in which newspaper clippings, postcards, train tickets were kept, meticulously classified by subject.

The exhibition also includes several photographs and sketches of automobiles and means of transportation. “It is known that Le Corbusier was a great fan of automobiles,” explain Ginevra Elkann and Marcella Pralormo, president and director of the Pinacoteca, respectively. “He had collected a lot of material on the car probably because it was useful for him to realize one of his biggest dreams: to design an automobile. It had been a challenge pursued for a long time and with energy.” One section is entirely devoted to Le Corbusier’s travels, which are also recounted through tickets, tourist brochures and postcards of monuments and landscapes that the artist loved to carefully collect and preserve, in a manner not very different from the way they are displayed to the public today.

Particular attention is given to the three trips that Le Corbusier made to Turin: in 1902, at the age of sixteen, on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition at the Promotrice delle Belle Arti where the future architect had exhibited a clock; in 1934, when he was portrayed in a Balilla on the Lingotto runway; and the last, in 1961, when he was invited by ICOM to give a speech on the theme of the ideal museum at the association’s annual conference during the celebrations of Italia61. Central to the exhibition is the role of artist-curator Cristian Chironi, who will create educational activities, recounting his project My house is a Le Corbusier, an itinerant, self-managed residency program involving stays in Le Corbusier’s homes around the world. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Corraini with graphic design by Studio Radl.

Pictured: a room in the exhibition.

Turin, at Pinacoteca Agnelli exhibition on Le Corbusier's objects and travels

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