At the age of 70, we learn from the intimate and largely unpublished letters that are the raw material of Nicholas Fox Weber's biography, Le Corbusier was still justifying his work, his name and his fame to his mother, by then in her late nineties. As always, he was trying to gain her favour over his (only just) older brother, the gentle but troubled Albert, a musician. The letters add poignancy to Le Corbusier's brittle image. Despite innumerable previous monographs touching on the architect's life in Paris, in America, with his women or as a painter, as well as on all his major buildings and projects, this excessively long biography offers both ugly revelations and moving insights.

LRB 9 April 2009 | PDF Download