The collection contains over 18,000 photographic negatives, 1,700 color slides, and 1,200 transparencies taken by Lucien Hervé, Le Corbusier's official photographer. Organized by project, this photographic material includes both Hervé's original negatives and copys negatives from the work of other photographers who have documented Le Corbusier's architectural projects. Subjects include Le Corbusier's executed buildings, unrealized architectural designs, and non-architectural works, such as paintings, tapestries, and sculptures. The collection also contains hundreds of portraits of Le Corbusier, both formal and informal.

One of the most prominent architectural photographers of the twentieth century, Lucien Hervé created a body of work, inspired by a Modernist philosophy, that remains uniquely identifiable. His tightly cropped images, in high contrast, offering oblique views, and often favoring the shadows cast by a form over an investigation of the form itself place an emphasis on mood, and on providing the viewer access to the transcendental nature of structure. Although Hervé worked with many of the influential architects of the twentieth century, his fifteen-year collaboration with architect Le Corbusier defines his career. Hervé served as Le Corbusier's official photographer from 1949 until the architect's death in 1965.

12.6 linear feet (42 boxes)

This collection is open for use by qualified researchers.