Purism (painting)

Purism refers to an early twentieth century French movement in art and architecture. It was founded by the French artist and theorist Amédée Ozenfant and the Swiss architect Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret). Purism stemmed from cubism but it was created as a reaction to it. The movement emerged in 1918, after the end of the World War I, and lasted until 1925 with the presentation of the Esprit Nouveau Pavilion at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts organized in Paris the same year. Although French cubist artist Fernand Léger was associated with the movement, Ozenfant and Le Corbusier remained its principal exponents. The Purists left behind a corpus of theoretical writings that explain the positions and the role of the movement. One of the basic principles of purism is its disdain for decorative art, advocating the simplification of forms and the lack of ornamental details. It also constitutes a reaction to art nouveau and its purely decorative style.

Brief History

In 1918, Ozenfant and Le Corbusier published a book titled After Cubism (Après le Cubisme), which became the theoretical foundation of purism. However Ozenfant began to nurture the idea that a total purity of form could be achieved in painting. He described his idea in L’Elan (1915–1916), a magazine that he published in collaboration with the poets and critics Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire. He met with Le Corbusier in 1917. Purist works were displayed for the first time in 1918, in the Gallery Thomas, in Paris. In 1920, the artist launched with Le Corbusier the magazine L’Esprit Nouveau (1920–1925), which contributed to the diffusion of the ideas of purism. The magazine published their joint articles, which were signed with pseudonyms. The movement is frequently inscribed in the Call for Order (retour à l’ordre) concept that flourished in Europe after the end of the World War I, aiming to restore order in the plastic arts through a return to the principles of classical antiquity.

Purism was founded as a reaction against the cubist aesthetic and the transformation of its geometrical shapes into decorative forms. It was largely based on geometry and mathematical precision in the depiction of mass-produced objects of everyday life (bottles, guitars, plates, tables), seeking a purity of form that was completely deprived of details and decoration. The objects were in principle depicted as seen from above or in profile highlighting their flat aspects. The purists also developed a strong critique against the irrationality of Dadaism and surrealism, the aesthetics of which opposed reason and mathematical precision, contradicting the orderly spirit of classical art. Ozenfant and Le Corbusier maintained strong faith in technology, conceiving their works with regard to modern engineering. The movement aimed to present the way by which modern life could conform to the innovations of machine age. These ideas were better applied to the challenges of architecture, which could be reduced to pure geometrical forms and functionalism. The modern house should be, according to Le Corbusier, "A machine to live in," meaning that it should be purely functional to facilitate the life of modern humans without carrying useless decorative elements. Ozenfant and Le Corbusier ended their collaboration in 1925, publishing their last joint book under the title Modern Painting (La Peinture Moderne).

Impact

Purism was a post-cubist art movement that, unlike cubism, failed to exercise considerable influence over twentieth century painting, as was the case with De Stijl and constructivism, which were founded on similar ideas. However, purist influences can be traced in the works of the Czech architect and painter Bedrich Feuerstein and the Russian artist Klioune (Ivan Kliounkov). Its impact on architecture, however, was immense. The "golden section," according to the purists, can produce the ideal form. Purism’s major opposition to cubism resides in the latter’s lyrical approach to the object and its indifference towards the purity of its outline. The critique of the purists notably applies to synthetic cubism, a late phase of cubism characterized by the creation of collages. However the cubism, in its earlier phases, was identified by the purists as one of the greatest developments in modern art and one that profoundly motivated the birth of purist theory. From 1921 to 1923, Ozenfant and Le Corbusier had regular shows in the Parisian gallery L’Effort Moderne owned by the cubist art dealer Léonce Rosenberg. Raoul La Roche, a Swiss banker and collector of purist art, became Rosenberg’s regular client in the 1920s. The purists became La Roche’s advisers regarding his art collection, while Le Corbusier and his cousin, the architect Pierre Jeanneret, designed the renowned Villa La Roche-Jeanneret where his collection was displayed. From 1923 Ozenfant and Le Corbusier went through disagreements concerning the villa and the former’s critique of machine-made objects. Subsequently they started publishing separate articles in L’Esprit Nouveau distinguishing their views.

Despite its dedication to geometry, purism also formulated a rationalized color theory that was subsequently applied to architecture by Le Corbusier. The purist theories found, in general, better expression in architecture, notably through the studies of Le Corbusier. Purism has been largely influenced by the theories of modern architecture, the ideas of which emerged at the turn of the century in the writings of the artist William Morris. Morris was a founder of the British Arts and Crafts movement. Le Corbusier’s purist conception of functional architecture and his belief that ornament serves no function were based on the principles of the Austrian architect Adolph Loos as presented in his seminal essay titled "Ornament and Crime," published in Vienna in 1910. The essay, which was translated into French three years later, in 1913, constitutes a theoretical attack against ornamental art, which was described by Loos as "degenerate" and "immoral." The Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, a temporary building created on the occasion of the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris was highly controversial because its very presence contradicted the show’s emphasis on decorative art. The controversy highlighted the debate between artists-decorators and industry that had its roots at the turn of the century. The same year marked the end of the collaboration between the purists.

Bibliography

Ball, Susan, L. Ozenfant and Purism: The Evolution of a Style. 1915–1930. New Haven: Yale UP, 1979. Print.

Curtis, William. Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms. London: Phaidon, 2015. Print.

Dell, Simon. "After Apollinaire: SIC (1916–19); Nord-Sud (1917–18); and L’Esprit Nouveau (1920–5)." Eds. Peter Brooker, Sascha Bru, Andrew Thacker, Christian Weikop. The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines: Europe 1880–1940. Vol.3. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013: 143–159. Print.

Eliel, Carol S., Françoise Ducros, and Tag Gronberg. L’Esprit Nouveau: Purism in Paris, 1918–1925. Los Angeles: Abrams, 2001. Print.

Freeman, Judi, and John Musgrove. "Purism." Oxford Art Online. Oxford UP. Web. 10 May. 2015.

Gabetti, Roberto, and Carlo Olmo. Le Corbusier e L’Esprit Nouveau. Torino: Einaudi, 1975. Print.

Green, Christopher. Cubism and Its Enemies. New Haven: Yale UP, 1987. Print.

Heer, Jan de. The Architectonic Colour. Polychromy in the Purist Architecture of Le Corbusier. Rotterdam: 010Publishers, 2013. Print.

Krauss, Rosalind. Léger, Le Corbusier and Purism. New York: Cowles, 1972. Print.

Townsend, Christopher. "The Purist Focus: Léger’s Theory of the Close-Up." Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities 1, Vol. 16 (May 2011): 161–180. Print.