In the course of this century, the wallpaper company Salubra, based in Grenzach near Basel, has repeatedly asked famous artists to compose individual color scales and collections for practical use in the wallpaper industry. Le Corbusier designed two collections for Salubra: the "Claviers de couleurs" in 1931 with 43 shades, and the Salubra collection in 1959 with 20 colors. By 1924, Le Corbusier had succeeded in applying his experiences, gained on his travels and as a purist painter, to the polychromes of his buildings. Thus, he could considerably change the spatial effect of the "white" houses of early modernism. In 1930/31 Le Corbusier seized the opportunity to design the first collection for Salubra: 43 color tones on which he relied as an architect and painter. He organized the different tones onto 12 sample cards in a way that, with the use of a slide, three to five colors could be isolated or combined in each case. Each of these cards (or "color keyboards") had a different color mood that was calculated to create a very specific atmospheric spatial effect when applied in practice. Thus, not only a useful tool, but also a kind of legacy of purist color theory was created. It can in itself be considered a kind of "artwork." From 1957 to 1959, a second collection with 20 colors was designed according to the modified ideas In autumn 1997, Birkhauser brought the Salubra colors to light again, publishing them in Le Corbusier's original "Claviers" arrangement and as large-format color swatches. Now, the color plates are available in a new, conveniently portable, and attractively priced edition. The 63 shades, each reproduced in true color on individual cards, fan open in color-samplefashion, turning a historically unique 'color-manual' into a practical and vibrant tool for architects.
- ISBN10 3764359110
- ISBN13 9783764359119
- Publish Date June 1998
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 10 April 2001
- Publish Country CH
- Imprint Birkhauser Verlag AG
- Language English