Le Corbusier & Schellen-Ursli

Lecture (in English) with art historian Stanislaus von Moos in discussion with architecture historian Frida Grahn

In the late summer of 1945, mere weeks after the end of World War II, a group of French intellectuals and artists was on its way for a short trip to Switzerland that also included the Engadine. Le Corbusier and the painter Jean Dubuffet were among them. During their visit to Guarda, a small mountain village and celebrated showcase of recent Swiss Heimatschutz efforts, the two got involved in a quarrel with Engadine architect Jachen Ulrich Könz, the man in charge of Guarda’s reconstruction and preservation and the husband of Selina Chönz, the author of Schellen-Ursli, the children’s book that brought Guarda to world fame. While we can only speculate about the arguments exchanged in the altercation, we know that for both Le Corbusier and Dubuffet, vernacular architecture and folk art were key concerns in those years. Guarda will serve as a pretext for addressing some of these in more detail.

Veranstaltung im Rahmen der Ausstellung "I love chalets".