Kitchen Still-Life

early 1917

Leaves Switzerland for Paris

In early 1917 Charles-Édouard Jeanneret left La Chaux-de-Fonds and Switzerland to settle in Paris for good. Until January 1919 he worked as consulting architect to Max Dubois's Society for the Application of Reinforced Concrete and ran a building-materials factory at Alfortville.

1918

The manifesto After Cubism: the birth of Purism

Ozenfant introduced Jeanneret to Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris and Jacques Lipchitz, and painting became his second profession. Together they issued the manifesto After Cubism, calling for reality to be “purified” of the accidental in favour of ideal, pure forms, and staged joint “Purist” exhibitions.

1918

Meets Amédée Ozenfant

Jeanneret met the Cubist painter Amédée Ozenfant, in whom he recognised a kindred spirit. Ozenfant encouraged him to paint, and the two began a period of collaboration.

1920

Adopts the name Le Corbusier

In the first issue of L'Esprit Nouveau, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret signed himself Le Corbusier, an altered form of his maternal grandfather's name, Lecorbésier. The pseudonym reflected his belief that anyone could reinvent themselves.

1920

The magazine L'Esprit Nouveau

With financial backing from the Swiss businessman Raoul La Roche, Jeanneret and Ozenfant launched the art magazine L'Esprit Nouveau. Jeanneret ran its architecture section, where the first chapters of his book Towards an Architecture appeared.