New York. Opus 1 by Charles-Édouard Jeanneret

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret - Le Corbusier, 1887-1967
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New York. Opus 1

Original engraving with etching, aquatint and open-bite in black ink. 1946. Signed in full in pencil. Numbered in pencil 19 from the edition of 20. Inscribed by Corbusier with the title: Op 1 (Opus 1 - First Work). Also dedicated in pencil by Corbusier: To Mitzi L-C nov 46.
Printed at the studio of Hayter, New York 1946. Extremely rare.
Provenance: Presented by Corbusier to the sculptress Mitzi Cunliffe in New York, 1946.
Ref: Not known to Ketterer for his Corbusier Exhibition, 1970
Weber - Corbusier Prints no 5, but with incorrect details.

Beautiful rich impression with burr and tone. On pale cream lightly textured wove paper. Excellent condition; the very slightest trace of where previously laid down in the reverse. Large margins. Sheet: 11 ¾ x 9 1/2ins. Plate: 3 3/8 x 5 3/8ins. (88x138mm)

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This is Corbusier's first print, drawn in 1946 in New York at the studio of his friend Stanley Hayter. It is extremly rare in impressions printed and signed at that date. (Subsequently, sometime in the early 1960's an unsigned edition of 110 impressions was issued with Corbusier's agreement). It had ben previously thought that no signed impressions existed.

It was previously believed that Corbusier's earliest print was Les Mains (Weber 1) This is dated 1948 in the plate and inscribed as 'Op 2' (Opus 2). Tinosaure (W.2) is likewise inscribed as 'Op 3' and dated '48. It was not known what work was 'Op 1'. The impression of New York, above, with its pencil inscription 'Op 1' now makes the position clear. It also predates by two years Les Mains, Tinosaure and Murale (W.3).

This impression of 'New York. Opus 1' was given by Corbusier in November 1946 to a young friend the English sculptress Mitzi Cunliffe. Miss Cunliffe was working in New York at that time prior to returning to London when she was to begin work on the designs for work and displays for the seminal 1951 Festival of Britain (the significance of her work has been re-recognised in the last few years and marked both by exhibitions and by a book).

Stanley Hayter had established his New York etching studio during the War after he and his painter friends in the Surrealist circle had had to flee Paris. With the brilliance of his technical inspiration it became a centre for the creation of some of the most important etchings of the late 1940's by Ernst, Miro, Tanguy etc. Corbusier was also involved in this circle of artists in New York, and probably encouraged by them he also experimented with Hayter. This composition, with its combination of surrealist invention, sculptural monumentality and fascination with texture (for instance in the contrasts of the open-bite and the aquatint) is an outstanding example of Corbusier's creativity in the 1940's.