André Bauchant / Le Corbusier

In 1921, Le Corbusier (1887-1965) became aware of the paintings of a stranger at the Paris Salon d'Automne: André Bauchant (1873-1958). A short time later, the architect visited the painter in his homeland, Touraine, and was the first to acquire one of his works. At first glance, the two men seem to have little in common: here the prominent spokesman for modern architecture and theoretician of purism, there the gardener and owner of a flourishing tree nursery, who only began to paint at the age of 40. And yet this encounter developed into a friendship that lasted over three decades and was characterized by intellectual exchange and mutual respect.

Le Corbusier was so fascinated by Bauchant that, together with Amédée Ozenfant, he wrote the first article about the artist for L'Esprit Nouveau, became publicly involved in his work and repeatedly established contacts with collectors and galleries. For him, Bauchant's work became the epitome of creativity untouched by academic rules and conventions. He saw this as the strength of self-taught artists who were able to find authentic expression far removed from institutions. It was not for nothing that in later years he liked to present himself as such an autodidact.

The exhibition was curated by Regina Barunke and shows selected paintings by Bauchant from the Zander Collection and the Fondation Le Corbusier, supplemented by archive material and a forthcoming catalog documenting his lifelong, previously unpublished correspondence.