Built Around a Tree: Odysseus’s Thalamos and Le Corbusier’s Pavillon de L’Esprit Nouveau
Journal Title: Ikonotheka - Year 2015, Vol 25, Issue
Abstract
The paper presents some comments on Homer’s ekphrasis of Odysseus’s thalamos, as presented in Book 23 of the Odyssey, and Le Corbusier’s Pavillon de L’Esprit Nouveau which was built for the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes and held in Paris. Both works imply a specifi c architectural situation of designing a domestic space around a growing tree. The architectural nature of Odysseus’s thalamos (his and Penelope’s nuptial bed and the bedchamber built around an olive tree in the palace of Ithaca) is revealed, for example, in the interpretation of the daidalon, i.e. the epithet that Homer uses in his ekphrasis which is associated with the name of Daedalus, the fi rst mythical architect. Le Corbusier’s pavilion, which included a tree in its garden terrace, is seen not only as a standardised unit of immeubles-villas, but also as a “paradigmatic” situation of designing a dwelling or a breathing space around a tree.
Authors and Affiliations
Gabriela Świtek
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP188622
- DOI -
- Views 71
- Downloads 0
The Icons of Military Saints in Rus’. An Attempt at Classifying Iconographic Types from before the Beginning of the 17th Century
Depictions of military martyrs were among the most popular subjects in icon painting in Rus’. Between the 11th and the 17th century local workshops adopted canonical Byzantine models and gradually developed and changed t...
Music and Its Images as a Source of a Creative Myth
Music was commonly regarded as one of the most powerful arts. In line with a very long tradition reaching back to the Pythagoreans and to Plato and Aristotle, it was its blend of mathematical structure and unusual power...
The Dark Source of Knowledge
-
Built Around a Tree: Odysseus’s Thalamos and Le Corbusier’s Pavillon de L’Esprit Nouveau
The paper presents some comments on Homer’s ekphrasis of Odysseus’s thalamos, as presented in Book 23 of the Odyssey, and Le Corbusier’s Pavillon de L’Esprit Nouveau which was built for the 1925 Exposition Internationale...
The History of Gardens: Geistesgeschichte or Naturgeschichte?
The article discusses Wiesław Juszczak’s essay entitled Dzieło sztuki czy fakt historyczny? [A work of art or a historical fact? (1973)], which focuses on his theses on the material dimension of artworks. Claiming that J...