Worlds within Worlds | Works from the Collection of Peter Petrou

Le Corbusier, 1887 - 1965 | Chandigarh Manhole Cover

UK: Greenford Park WarehouseArtist's Resale RightVAT applies to buyers outside the UK

Lot Closed

September 21, 03:54 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Le Corbusier

1887 - 1965

Chandigarh Manhole Cover

iron

later mounted with a bespoke table base which is cast 'Corbusier'

80cm. diameter; 2ft. 6¼in.

Conceived circa 1950.

‘Please note that where the buyer is from within the UK the lot is sold with no VAT symbol. Where the buyer resides outside the UK the lot is invoiced as if it bore the “†” symbol.’

Acquired by Eric Touchaleaume, Paris, 2004-2006.

The ‘new’ city of Chandigarh, in the foothills of the Himalayas, in the Punjab, was commissioned by Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India in the 1950's.

Le Corbusier (1887-1965), the architectural visionary drew up the master plan. On his first visit to the area he was enraptured by the unity of life in India and during his week-long stay he filled thirty-two pages of his large sketchbook with the main concepts; the architecture was to be "Neither English, nor French, nor American, but Indian".

Le Corbusier's second in command was Pierre Jeanneret who had the understanding and technical ability to realize the dreams of Corbusier. With many parks and water features, the city is based on rectangles, or sectors, which are intended to be self-sufficient neighbourhood units bound by roads, and every aspect of the city, every tiny detail, was designed for Chandigarh including all the street furniture and the present lot which features the master plan of India's first Modernist city.

COMPARATIVE LITERTURE

Eric Touchaleaume, Gérald Moreau, Le Corbusier Pierre Jeanneret: The Indian Story, Design-Art-Architecture, 2014, Montreuil, p.118