Charles-Eduard Jeanneret, Le Corbusier and the “Orient

Charles-Eduard Jeanneret's voyage to Istanbul tends to be considered as a prelude to his momentous career change as Le Corbusier (1887-1965) ensuing period, but not many scholars have contextualized this voyage in global and local historical dynamics. His book Le Voyage d'Orient is generally seen as the document of the trip in 1911, although it was published in 1966, 55 years after the trip, and became his last written work, prepared one month before his death. The book is based on his Carnet, describing in detail the travel experience of the young Eduard Jeanneret and his companion and close friend August Klipstein (1885-1951) in an “Orient” that included Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, Greece and Italy. In fact this book can be read also as a carefully programmed story of pre-Le Corbusier re-written by Le Corbusier, an architect-hero, meant to be repositioned in the end of his life/voyage. The associated idea of life/voyage, as well as the title of the book “Voyage d'Orient”, remind us of his supposed connections and inclination to Freemasonry and to the Grand d'Orient de France. In this regard, this paper aims firstly to reconsider the meaning of Le Voyage d'Orient by Le Corbusier (not simply by Charles-Eduard Janneret), in relation to the Freemasonic context, and secondly to suggest how his formative experience maybe framed in the system of values and ideas of the Modern Movement.