Günther Förg (1952-2013)

An immaculate summation of Günther Förg’s abstract language, Hommage à Le Corbusier also resonates with the German artist’s enthusiasm for modernist architecture. Twenty-three gouache works on paper, neatly aligned in four rows, present two dozen colour-pairings. As the title suggests, the work is formally inspired by the great Swiss-French master of twentieth-century architectural design, Le Corbusier. Notably, the composition and chromatic spectrum echoes the tidal wave of colourful partition walls that slice through the structures of Le Corbusier’s brutalist apartment blocks (unité d'habitation), particularly the Cité radieuse in the south of Marseille.

Furthermore, Förg clearly shares Le Corbusier’s absolute devotion to quadrilateral shapes; a key motif recurring in the oeuvres of both. The fourth of Le Corbusier’s Five Points of Architecture expresses that buildings should be planned with long strips of ribbon windows, to provide the inhabitant or spectator with breathtaking panoramic views of the external surroundings. Clearly, this impetus had a profound effect on the imagination of Förg, whose paintings are grounded in rectilinear geometries and architectonic functionality. The current work is an immersive, unique abstract counterbalance to the artist’s photography of architecture – a smorgasbord of colour, light and geometry that acts as a stunning tribute to a true innovator.