Le Corbusier and the Age of Purism

For its 60th birthday, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo is hosting a grand exhibition dedicated to Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known by his pseudonym Le Corbusier (1887-1965), the architect who designed this very building. Jeanneret is widely regarded as one of the three greatest masters of modern architecture, along with Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe. Le Corbusier published a manifesto about modern architecture in 1920, calling his philosophy ‘purism’; he believed that buildings should have a clean and pure structure. Many of his buildings are characterised by pilotis (pillars), separation of structural frame and walls, free flat surfaces, free standing surfaces and rooftop gardens – and the museum stands as an example.