Wednesday 23 May 2012

Dali on Le Corbusier

'Karl Marx suffered from the same kind of illusions as poor Le Corbusier, whose recent death filled me with great joy. Both of them were architects. Le Corbusier was a pitiable creature working in reinforced concrete. Mankind will soon be landing on the moon, and just imagine: that buffoon claimed we'd be taking along sacks of reinforce concrete. His heaviness and the heaviness of the concrete deserve one another.... Le Corbusier simply went down for the third time, because of his reinforced concrete and his architectures, the ugliest and most unacceptable buildings in the world. All the same, if God exists, He'd expect me to act like a gentleman. So I ordered some everlasting flowers for the anniversary of his death, next year, and I cried out: "long live anti-gravitation"'

Alain Bosquet, Conversations with Dali, New York, 1969, pp16, 17, 31

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Buckingham Palace - questioning the ugliness of the queen's gaff in the Jubilee year?

The BBC has chosen to celebrate her Majesty's 60th year on the throne, as it were, by raising the question of whether Buckingham Palace is Ugly or not?

Perhaps not one of Nash's best works. It is a bit of a lump, and lacks any drama and movement on the front facade. The lesser viewed rear facade is perhaps more successful.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18056612