L'esprit Nouveau: Purism in Paris 191: Purism in Paris, 1918-1925 - Tapa dura

The Purist movement in art, founded by Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (better known as Le Corbusier) and Amedee Ozenfant, championed a traditional classicism while it simultaneously embraced new technologies and materials. The only book on Purism, L'Esprit Nouveau is a key contribution to the study of classic 20th-century modernism in painting and architecture. The book serves as the catalogue for an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.The revealing volume examines over 75 paintings by Le Corbusier, Ozenfant, and their closest colleague, Fernand Leger. At the heart of the study lies a single work: Le Corbusier's striking design of the Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau for the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs, at which the term "Art Deco" was coined. The architecture of Le Corbusier's pavilion, along with its interior decoration -- paintings, sculpture, furniture, glassware, rugs, and other objects -- offers a complete summation of Purist aesthetics. Included here too is the full translated text of Le Corbusier's and Ozenfant's 1918 manifesto, Apres le cubisme.

Carol S. Eliel is curator of modern and contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of art. Francoise Ducros is the world's leading expert on Amedee Ozenfant. Tag Gronberg is Head of the School of History of Art, Film, and Visual Media at Birkbeck College, University of London.