La Roche

You're no doubt right to complain if I have massacred your walls, of which I have always been a staunch admirer... But you do remember the origin of my undertaking. You said 'La Roche, when one has a fine collection as you have, you must have a house built which is worthy of it'. And my reply: 'Fine, Jeanneret, make this house for me'. Now, what happened? The completed house was so beautiful that, when I saw it, I exclaimed, 'It's almost a pity to put paintings in it'. Nevertheless, I said How could I do otherwise? Do I not have some obligations to my painters, of whom, indeed, you are one? I asked you for a 'frame for my collection' and you gave me a 'poem in walls'. Which of us was more to blame?

Raoul La Roche to Le Courbusier, May 1926, Fondation Le Courbusier (Open University, 1984, p.35).

Reference List entry
Open University (1984) "Radiovision Programme 22: Le Courbusier and Raoul La Roche", Broadcast Notes 3: Modern Art and Modernism, Milton Keynes: The Open University, pp.33-35


Sorry, just found this in my mails and had to post it.