Le Corbusier at The Moma.

I managed to sneak some photos of the very good sprawling Le Corbusier show that I saw at a member's preview the other day because the guards as you can see from some of my pictures were otherwise engaged with each other. Its nicely installed as only the rich Moma can do, with lots of Models, drawings and many of his bright colorful paintings that he called Purism and will remind everyone of Leger's great work who by the way Le Corbusier was friends with and in fact I first thought were his paintings. They're not as smooth or accomplished as Leger's but they are quite nice and pleasing and came as a surprise to me. Some of his plans for buildings I find downright scary such as his "Contemporary City" for three million inhabitants (Ville Contemporaine) that happily was never built, and his forays with the fascists in Rome and France is also troubling. The show has few photographs of his actual buildings which I found somewhat bothersome, and the few that are included are either too small or hung way up near the ceiling. Go figure. I have trouble judging architecture if I can't see the actual buildings and structures, and I did better with the big catalog for the show that I browsed through which gave me a better idea of what he actually built. There are also several recreations of rooms, including one from a house that he built for his mommy which is sweet and charming and lets not forget his important contribution to furniture. Its also somewhat Ironic or annoying that right now the Moma is boasting two major shows of architecture when they have plans of tearing down the building that once housed the American Folk Art Museum and that many consider a treasure including some of the important architects of the day. The show is complex and complicated like the man himself. Highly recommended.