BY CLAUDIA HERSTATT | ARTICLE FROM
BY CLAUDIA HERSTATT |
August 14, 2003
In Bad Faith - Why the wider world is ignorant of Le
Corbusier's artistic works.
Heidi Weber was one of the last confidants of the great architect Le Corbusier. Since his death in 1965 she has struggled on countless fronts to fulfil his last expressed wish - to continue to spread his legacy and protect his work. Particularly through preventing falsification and plagiarism of Le Corbusier's furniture designs by manufacturers. Then there are the false copies of his artworks circulating the international art markets to combat. And last but not least Heidi Weber has had to defend herself against the long arm of the Le Corbusier Foundation in Paris. In March this year the Foundation brought charges against Mrs Weber at an international internet-tribunal, accusing her of misappropriating a trademark name with her website www.centre-lecorbusier.com . This international panel of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (www.wipo.org) in turn accused the French Le Corbusier Foundation in Paris of Reverse Internet Domain Name Hijacking and abuse of the administrative proceedings in bad faith against the Centre Le Corbusier in 24 out of 32 attempts to reclaim Domain Names. Mrs Weber has now, after this finding, control over her own website which includes 24 variations as well as www.centre-lecorbusier.com, www.artlecorbusier.com and www.museumlecorbusier.com. What is important for Heidi Weber has been the opportunity to fight in front of an international tribunal and not in a French court, bringing her a ray of hope.
"Dear Madam and Friend, no other person has ever done so much for me and my work as you have. You are an honourable person full of enthusiasm and integrity" - thus wrote Le Corbusier to Heidi Weber in 1962. In that same year, out of thanks for a fruitful 7 year working partnership, he left to her the exclusive sales rights of his artistic works for a period of thirty years. In 1958, interior decorator Mrs Weber had sought out the world renowned architect with a plan to manufacture and distribute the four in 1927 furniture designs. The approach was successful, and subsequently the classic Chaise Lounge and Grand Comfort seat came onto the market for the first time in February 1959. Apart from this commercial venture, Mrs Weber also encouraged Le Corbusier to exhibit his paintings, drawings, sculptures and lithographs.
Not least Mrs Weber is the builder, owner and curator of the "Centre Le Corbusier - Heidi Weber Museum" situated on the banks of Lake Zürich. This building was the last design of the master architect, and is a distinct departure in style from his usual concrete creations. It is a cube constructed out of steel and glass with white, yellow, green and black enamelled panels, and above the building sweeps a steel roof independent of the structure below. The summer months bring up to 45 000 pilgrims, fans who come not only to see examples of Le Corbusiers architecture but also the unique collection of oil paintings, drawings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture and his publications.
The story of conflict between Mrs Weber and the Paris Le Corbusier Foundation is a thirty year old one. The Foundation inherited his whole estate in order to restore, conserve and make available to the public his lifework. They had to take on Le Corbusiers contract with Heidi Weber from 1962 concerning the exclusive sale of artworks. According to that contract of his artistic works, excluding the 65 paintings and sculptures which the architect had alledgedly left to the foundation, would be in her hands. For the next few decades, aside from her commission of 33%, the proceeds from the sales of the artworks went directly to the Paris Foundation. As long as this involved relatively not so big sums, she went through since 1968 with more or less problems from the Paris Foundation. However, with the 100 year anniversary of the birth of Le Corbusier in 1987, the situation changed dramatically. As interest in his works rose, so did the prices. When Sothebys bid (for a current value of) 750 000 euro for a Le Corbusier oil painting from the purist period, the Foundation sought again to break the contract by means of blocking of artworks. "They fancied themselves on a goldmine, and wanted to get rid of me", says Heidi Weber.
For fourteen months, the Paris Foundation denied Mrs Weber the right to purchase any artworks - a hard loss for her work and also for the worldwide promotion and continuing mediation of his legacy in general. A round ten year court battle, fought in France, ended in 1998 with an out of court settlement. Once again, funds that were urgently needed for the maintenance of her non profit (and self financed) museum, "to which even the city of Zürich doesn't contribute a franc", were lost.
Concerning the Foundation in Paris, many questions remain. In thirty five years, they have never produced a catalogue résumé of works, estimated to include 8500 drawings, 550 oil paintings, 30 sculptures, and 27 tapestries. The financial state of the Foundation is as little known as the list of its board of directors. Heidi Weber, the "ambassador of Le Corbusier" as the Brazilian Minister for Culture once called her, continues her mission. She is currently preparing two volumes about her working partnership with Le Corbusier, and co-ordinating two large exhibitions of his artistic works in Florence and Rio de Janeiro. And always, when times are tough, she has to sacrifice - with a heavy heart - another of his Originals.
Translated from the German text by Natasha Schaad