Original Le Corbusier Poster "The Modulor Man", 1956 - Mourlot

This is an original lithographic poster created in 1956 by Le Corbusier and printed by Mourlot Frères on Arches paper bearing the Mourlot watermark — the most prestigious archival stock in the atelier's repertoire, reserved for the finest and most significant impressions. The subject is the Modulor Man: the iconic anthropometric figure that formed the philosophical and mathematical foundation of Le Corbusier's entire architectural practice, and one of the most recognisable images in the history of modern design.

Le Corbusier (1887–1965), born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, is universally recognised as the most influential architect of the 20th century. The Modulor — conceived in the 1940s and published in 1948 — was his answer to a question that had preoccupied architects since Vitruvius: how to derive a universal system of proportions from the human body. Following in the tradition of Pythagoras, Vitruvius and Leonardo da Vinci, Le Corbusier devised an anthropometric scale based on a male figure, arm raised, 1.83 metres tall — the "every man" — whose proportions, governed by the golden ratio, would provide the harmonic basis for all his buildings, from the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille to the city of Chandigarh. The Modulor is not merely a design tool: it is a manifesto, a humanist declaration that architecture must be built to the measure of the human body.

Le Corbusier's relationship with Mourlot began as early as the mid-1930s, and he brought to printmaking the same democratic philosophy that animated his architecture. He signed this lithograph directly in the stone — not as a limitation of access, but as an expansion of it — so that as many people as possible could own a work of quality. The inscription he etched into the stone reads: "Friend of Modular, search by yourself, invent, discover… Bring your inventions, they will be useful. Thank you friend, Le Corbusier." It is a message from an architect to the world — personal, direct, and entirely characteristic of the man.

This example is printed on Arches paper bearing the Mourlot watermark — a guarantee of the impression's quality and provenance — and is in overall good condition, grade A-. Presented unframed, ready for the wall it deserves.

The most important image in the history of modern architecture — signed in stone by Le Corbusier himself, on the finest paper Mourlot could offer.