Three Revolutionary Architects: Boullee, Ledoux, and Lequeu
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TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY HELD AT PHILA DELPHIA FO R PROMO TING USEF UL KNO WLEDGE NEW SERIES-VOLUME 42, PART 3 1952 THREE REVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTS, BOULLEE, LEDOUX, AND LEQUEU EMIL KAUFMANN THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY INDEPENDENCE SQU ARE PHILADELPHIA 6 OCTOBER, 1952 COPYRIGHT 1952 BY THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY PREFACE 1 am deeply indebted to the American Philosophical Columbia University, Prof. Talbot F. Hamlin, Prof. Society for having made possible the completion of this James Grote Van Derpool; Mr. Adolf Placzek, Avery study by its generous grants. 1 wish also to express my Library, and Miss Ruth Cook, librarian of the Archi sincere gratitude to those who helped me in various ways tectural Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. in the preparation of this book, above all to M. Jean For permission to reproduce drawings and photo Adhemar, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, Dr. Leo C. graphs 1 am indebted to the Cabinet d'Estampes, Bibl. Collins, New York City, Prof. Donald Drew Egbert, Nationale, Paris (drawings of Boullee and Lequeu), Princeton University, Prof. Paul Frankl, Inst. for Ad Archives photographiques, Paris (Hotel Brunoy), Bal vanced Study, Princeton, Prof. Julius S. Held, Colum timore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Md. (portrait of bia University, New York, Architect Philip Johnson, Ledoux), Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Deco Museum of Modern Art, New York, Prof. Erwin ration, New York (etchings by Le Geay). Panofsky, Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton, Prof. The quotations are in the original orthography. The Meyer Schapiro, Columbia University, New York, Prof. bibliographical references conform with the abbrevia John Shapley, Catholic University of America, Wash tions of the World List of Historical Periodicals, Ox ington, D. C. My best thanks go to the libraries in ford, 1939. which 1 had the privilege to work, and quite particu EMIL KAUFMANN larly to the ever helpful librarians of Avery Library, Los Angeles, Californi a, December 1951 431 THREE REVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTS, BOULLEE, LEDOUX, AND LEQUEU EMIL KAUFMANN Deja l'aurore s'empare du monde . les arts se reveillent; un nouveau jour commence. Ledoux CONTENTS PAGE PAGE Introduction ... .. .. .. .. .. ... 433 VI I . The Propylaea of Paris ... .. ..... .. 498 The Heritage of the Past ... ...... 499 N o PA RT I. ET IE NE-L UIS BOULLEE ..................... 436 Modern Composition ............. 504 I. The Teachers . .... ... ....... ... .. 436 VI II . TheId eal City ....... ......... .. ... 509 Jacques-Fran<;ois Blondel . ... ... .... 436 Plan ... ..... ............ ....... 509 Germain Boffrand ............ .... 446 Utilitarian Buildings . ....... ..... 514 Abbe Laugier . .... :............. 448 Public Buildings ... .. ... .......... 517 Jean-Laurent Le Geay .......... ... 450 Residences ..... ..... ............ 524 II . The Man . .. .... ... .. ........... 453 PA RT III . JEAN-JACQUES LEQUEU . ...... ..... ..... 538 III . The Artist .. ... .... ..... ........ .. 459 IX. Lequeu's Life .. ..... .. .. ....... 538 IV. The Thinker ... ..... .. ..... .... .. .. 469 X. Lequeu's Work ..... ... ....... .. .... 545 PA RT II . CLAUDE-NICOLAS LEDOUX .... .. .. ... ..... 474 Baroque and Classicism ..... ... ... 546 Exoticism . ........ ............... 549 V. Life and Character .. .......... .. .... 474 The Search for New Forms ....... 552 VI . Buildings Erected or Projected . .. 479 Toward a New Composition ....... 554 Baroque Survivals . ....... ...... 481 Inthe Style of the Stage ......... 555 The Fashion of Classicism .... ..... 483 Struggle for Grandeur ........ .... 556 The Rule of Geometry ... .......... 483 When the Tempest Stills ......... 558 New Surface Patterns . ... ..... 486 Bibliography . .. ......... ................ ........ New Ways of Spatial Composition . 488 .. 559 The Ideal of Individualism ....... 494 Index ...... ...... ....... ... .. ... ..... .... ..... ....... 560 INTRODUCTION As late as the 1920's the works of Boullee and Ledoux sources that are mlssmg in other biographies, just as were discussed only if they had some local interest. Be they will find among the illustrations many designs not yond this their works were referred to very briefly, at before reproduced. best, and the authors were commonly disparaged. In This book ventures into unmapped territory. It at an article published in 1929 I attempted to direct atten tempts to lay the groundwork for an investigation of tion to their historic significance. Subsequent publica the architecture of the era which culminated in the tions of mine on Ledoux, including the first monograph, French Revolution. Although the attempt here is to were followed by French biographies in 1934 and 1945. clarify the historical position of the architects by set As to Boullee and Lequeu, my essays in the Art Bulle ting off their production against the general trends of tin, 1939 and 1949, seem to be the only biographical their period, it does not pretend to say the last word on studies on these two men. the development which it will discuss for the first Continued research yielded much new material. time. I know that one can look at the extremely original Moreover, I will discuss the predecessors of these three works of these three architects from various angles. It men who were also highly interesting personalities, and is to be hoped that others will not limit themselves to enter another hitherto neglected field, that of eighteenth pointing out the shortcomings of this attempt, but will century French architectural theory. Some of the trea carry on with independent and better interpretations tises I have used are rare and not easily accessible, while based on a renewed scrutiny of their works, and of the others are too lengthy for the average reader. There treatises referred to in the text. fore, selected passages which provide a deeper insight To begin with, I should like to make it clear that I into the thought of the era and reveal the character of do not regard as "revolutionary architects" those archi their authors have been assembled in my notes. The tects who were commissioned by revolutionary authori bibliography lists monographs and essays of general ties in the years 1789-1799 to design public buildings, interest; further bibliographical references are included memorials or ephemeral decorations for revolutionary in the notes. Those interested in Ledoux will find here celebrations. The architects considered here did not 433 434 KAUFMANN : THREE REVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTS [TRANS. AMER. PHIL. SOC. play any active role in the political scene; nor did they of the main architectural trends in the late eighteenth belong to the host of minor artists who pretended that century may help to make this detailed investigation they were abreast of the times when they affixed Phryg more easily comprehensible. ian caps or other petty emblems to thoroughly conven We11-balanced harmony within a hierarchical order tional designs. They were men imbued with the great had been a foremost aim of the Renaissance and the new ideals set forth by the leading thinkers of the cen Baroque, even of the Baroque's last stage with all its tury, and strove unconsciously rather than intentionally, sumptuousness and exaggeration. In the late eight to express these ideals in their own medium. No broad eenth century, however, the chief aims were the ex minded historian of the French Revolution will restrict pression of character, the creation of atmosphere, and himself to the deeds and misdeeds which occurred in the the division of the composition into independent units. years of turmoil, from the destruction of the Bastille to The French architects at the close of the century were the ultimate restoration of order. He will rather study not content with literary picturesqueness, but aimed at how the concept of the individual's rights, and of a new expressiveness, legitimately through form. order of society developed and took hold during the The forms which promised best to serve the double decades prior to 1789; how people began to defend the end of expressiveness and individualism were those of new ideas, failing temporarily, but paving the way for elementary geometry. Self-contained, these forms al the future. Art history, likewise, must deal with the lowed the parts to be independent from each other. growth of ideas before commenting on their materializa Moreover, they �llowed the architect to give "character" tion. to a building by differentiating the constituents in size, Historians have believed that architecture and the fine or by contrasting them in shape. The revolutionary arts in general remained apart from the eighteenth architects also passed from the traditional to the geomet century movement of reorientation and reorganization. rical forms because their attitude toward the material This erroneous belief resulted from the fact that the had undergone a profound change. The sensuous Ba protagonists of the architectural revolution fe11 into roque features with their flexibility expressed the Ba oblivion when the ideas for which they fought were roque trend toward animism (All-Beseelung). This discredited. Most contemporaries and the fo11owing trend accounts for the preference that was given to generations were not able to distinguish between those "living" forms, e.g., supports in the shapes of Caryatides attempts which were to become fruitful and permanent, and Atlantes, or furniture legs ending in claws, etc. and those which proved to be merely whimsical