Modernist Le Corbusier by Cassina LC4, "Poneyskin" Leather on Black Frame, 1970s

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, the Swiss-born designer and architect known as Le Corbusier (1887–1965), famously described the houses he designed as machines to live in. It is only fitting then that he would furnish each home with its own machines built to meet specific needs. Designed in 1928, the LC4 chaise longue is a “relaxing machine,” according to Le Corbusier, its curves mimicking those of a lounging body. Part of his first-ever collection of furniture, made in collaboration with designer Charlotte Perriand (1903–99) and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret (1896–1967), the LC4 is an ode to the principles of modernism: rejection of ornament and the prioritization of functionality.

Le Corbusier believed that furniture should be an extension of our limbs and that it should adapt to our functions. In reflecting his sketches of the various positions of the lounging human body, the LC4 chaise longue features a fully movable frame that adjusts at the base, allowing the user to set it upright or fully reclined. The curved tubular steel base echoes the material exploration taking place at the beginning of the 20th century, in which designers experimented with the flexibility of steel, plastics and molded plywood. But the upholstery was cowhide or leather, the softness of which starkly contrasts with the industrial steel and angular shape. The LC4 has a sculptural presence in any given room, which is perhaps a result of Le Corbusier having dispensed with the metric system and instead drawing on his own system of proportion based on the “ideal” male body. 

Furniture designed by Le Corbusier in collaboration with Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand — a gifted innovator who was initially dismissed by the French architect but was later tasked with creating furniture and interiors — was originally produced by Austrian manufacturer Thonet. But in 1964, the Italian furniture company Cassina acquired the production and sales rights to the LC4 chaise longue, and the LC collection, as it was christened, has been in production there ever since. The collection originally included 19 pieces, each titled in the same alphanumerical style — LC1, LC2, LC3 and so on — that encapsulated a full range of furniture, from armchairs to dining tables. 

The LC4 remains the definitive chaise longue of the 20th century, its position secured by its unusual form and its representation of functionality and modernism. With the LC4, Le Corbusier also confronted the inconceivable challenge of making an object built like a machine feel inviting and comfortable.

If his famed cousin and longtime colleague Charles-Édouard Jeanneret — better known as Le Corbusier — was the visionary, then Pierre Jeanneret was the member of the architecture and design team who got things done. In recent years, Jeanneret has emerged from Le Corbusier’s shadow, as collectors have discovered his simple and striking chairs, benches, coffee tables and other furniture creations.

Jeanneret studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva and after he graduated in 1921 he became a partner in Le Corbusier’s office in Paris. The pair collaborated on numerous residential projects, most notably the Villa Savoye, the iconic modernist house in suburban Paris completed in 1931.

Jeanneret also worked with the great Charlotte Perriand on the Grand Modele line of tubular metal furnishings that was a sensation at the annual Salon d’Automne design expo in 1929. A rift developed between Jeanneret and his cousin during World War II, as the former joined the French resistance, while Le Corbusier cooperated with the occupying authorities in Vichy. The two did not work together again until 1950, when Le Corbusier persuaded Jeanneret to help execute the master plan for the new city of Chandigarh in Punjab, India. Jeanneret lived and worked there until the final years of his life.

A hallmark of Jeanneret’s furniture designs is his great sensitivity to materials. In contrast to the tubular-steel chairs produced by Marcel Breuer and other members of the Bauhaus, the chromed metal pieces designed by Jeanneret and Perriand — including such as the now-classic LC4 chaise longue and the Grand Confort lounge chair — have a sensuous, relaxed and welcoming look. Conversely, while Jeanneret uses essentially geometric forms for his wooden seating pieces, they exude warmth by nature of the material.

One of Jeanneret’s first manufactured designs in wood is the Model 92 Scissors chair, licensed by Hans and Florence Knoll when they were touring postwar France. But Jeanneret’s finest work in furniture was done in Chandigarh, and these are the pieces that have earned him recent renown.

Crafted of teak, the Chandigarh designs range from low-slung lounge chairs and armchairs with cane seats to desks and tables, most with Jeanneret’s signature drafting compass-shaped legs. Many such pieces on the market today are refurbished, having been found by dealers languishing in scrapyards in India in the late 1990s. Chandigarh is now taking better care of its modernist heritage, making available Jeanneret works all the rarer.

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