Le Corbusier: Important Works from the Heidi Weber Museum Collection will form a centrepiece of the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, the first auction in the 20th Century season in London (28 February-10 March).
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Heidi Weber first met Le Corbusier in the summer of 1958 at Cap Martin on the Côte d’Azur. The encounter marked the beginning of a close and remarkably productive partnership between the pair.
With passion and determination, Weber embarked on a number of collaborative projects with Le Corbusier, from the successful commercial adaptation of his furniture designs to publishing his graphic works and nurturing the market for his art. ‘I had only one wish: to help Le Corbusier get the recognition he deserved for his paintings and sculptures,’ she once said. Weber also funded the construction of his last building, the Heidi Weber Museum - Centre Le Corbusier on the shores of Lake Zurich in Switzerland, which was completed in 1967, two years after Le Corbusier’s death.
Described variously as the ‘leading ambassador’, ‘spiritual heiress’ and ‘mentor’ of Le Corbusier, Heidi Weber was, in Le Corbusier’s own words, ‘a monster of perseverance, devotion and enthusiasm’. She developed an unparalleled collection of his work, from the elegant, rigidly structured Purist compositions of the late 1910s and early 1920s, to the exuberant multi-hued creations of his later years.
The diversity that characterises Le Corbusier’s oeuvre can be seen in the three oil paintings, tracing Le Corbusier’s career from the 1920s to the 1940s, and four works on paper that feature in the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale and Works on Paper sales in London during 20th Century season at Christie’s (28 February to 10 March).
The selection of three oil paintings and four works on paper demonstrates the range and plasticity of Le Corbusier’s oeuvre, and reveals an artist who constantly defied definition
Although Le Corbusier regarded himself first and foremost as a fine artist, he rarely exhibited this side of his practice, choosing instead to keep it hidden from critics and a wider public. One of the first to recognise the importance of his painting, drawing and sculpture, Weber dedicated herself to the promotion and dissemination of this aspect of his work.
Created in 1926, Accordéon, carafe et cafetière (estimate: £1,500,000-2,500,000) shows the growing complexity of Le Corbusier’s pictorial vocabulary as he reached the heights of his mature Purist style.
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