The Photo book as Symphony – Ronchamp as Sculpture: Re-composing Architectural Photography

Abstract

[EN] This paper suggests that Le Corbusier’s editorial composition of the book Ronchamp: Les Carnets de la recherche patiente 2 can be regarded as an artistic manner of re-composing architectural photography that partly contrasts Le Corbusier’s otherwise conservative concept of the synthesis of the arts, which so far had excluded the medium of photography. The paper proposes that the book, which was published at a time when The Chapel of Ronchamp (1950-1955) had become controversial among architectural critics, aspired to communicate the architectural project as a work of art by creating links to other art forms, particularly by: 1) emphasizing Hervé’s artistic, partly non-representational, approach to architectural photography; 2) employing principles of musical composition; and 3) approximating photographic practise of documenting sculpture