Charlotte Perriand’s Drawings. The Graphical Representation of a Modern Life

Abstract

This paper analyses the graphics of Charlotte Perriand, going from a more technical vision, as in the methodological, right through to the most phenomenological, in the search for a suitable representation for the modern way of living. Both approaches contribute to the final academic learning process with abstract systems that are strictly taken on in order to be able to forsee space and objects in three dimensions. The path from the natural language in her first notes, through to the graphic, more abstract language, demonstrates the level of specificity used by means of different graphic sources. The knowledge of methods used for portrayal sought a continuous experimentation from the very origin of the creative process; the drawing, and this meant that this was part of the crystallisation of the architectural thinking. The complementarity of graphic mechanisms such as the Diedric system, axonometric projections, conical perspectives and even the dappling in the technique of photomontage shows her desire to express not only the detail but also the ‘pathos’ of new architecture. The critical analysis of her graphic collection will demonstrate what the work of this pioneer of modernity meant and how it drove forward the general aim of those who wished to give architecture and furniture a life of emancipation.