Raoul Albert La Roche

Raoul Albert La Roche (23 February 1889 - 15 June 1965) was a Swiss banker and art collector. He was especially interested in purism and cubism and his collections have been donated to museums in Switzerland and France. His home in Paris, Maison La Roche, was designed by his friend Le Corbusier and now houses the Le Corbusier Foundation.[1]

Raoul Albert La Roche
Born(1889-02-23)23 February 1889
Basel, Switzerland
Died15 June 1965(1965-06-15) (aged 76)
Basel
NationalitySwiss
Occupation(s)Banker and art collector
Parents
  • Louis La Roche (father)
  • Emilie Caroline Burckhardt (mother)

Early life

Raoul Albert La Roche was born on 23 February 1889, and grew up in Basel, Switzerland in a bourgeois family, very closely linked to the world of art. He was the second son of the banker Louis La Roche and Emilie Caroline Burckhardt. He studied at the School of Trading in Neuchâtel (Switzerland), and became an apprentice in the Bank of Basel, and worked in Berlin and London.[2]

Career

In 1912, at the age of 23, La Roche moved to Paris to work for the Banque Suisse et Française (BSF), which became in 1917 the Crédit Commercial de France. He made his career there, retiring in 1954.

In 1940, during the invasion of France by the German army, he left Paris and moved to Lyon, keeping his job at the bank, until the end of the war.[3] He returned to Paris after the war.

Villa La Roche

In 1918, La Roche met Le Corbusier and was attracted to the purism style of painting whose foundations were laid by Le Corbusier.

In 1922, on the occasion of a trip to Venice and Vicenza (Italy) with Le Corbusier, La Roche planned to have a villa built by his friend. This project became the "Villa della Rocca"[4] (Villa La Roche) in Paris, at the "Square du Docteur-Blanche". The villa was built in joint ownership with Le Corbusier's brother, the violinist Albert Jeanneret, and housed his collections of paintings, including works by Picasso,[5] Braque,[6] Fernand Léger.[7] La Roche donated this villa to Le Corbusier for his foundation.

Death

La Roche died on 15 June 1965 in Basel. He bequeathed one-third of his collection to the Musée du Louvre, another third to his hometown (Basel), which can be seen in the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the last third to the Fondation Le Corbusier.[8]

References
  1. Jean Jenger, Le Corbusier : Choix de lettres, ed. Springer, 2002 ISBN 3764364556
  2. "La Roche, Raoul". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  3. Speiser, Philipp (2009). "Raoul La Roche, Art collector and Builder of the villa "La Rocca"". Architectura - Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Baukunst. (39): 171–184.
  4. "Fondation Le Corbusier : Villa Della Rocca" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  5. Christopher Green, Picasso: Architecture and Vertigo, page 21, ed. Yale University Press, 2006 ISBN 030010412X,
  6. Michèle Richet, Nadine Pouillon, ill. Georges Braque, pages 30, 37, 55, Georges Braque: Orangerie des Tuileries, 16 octobre 1973 - 14 janvier 1974, ed. des Musées Nationaux, 1973
  7. Georges Bauquier, Fernand Léger: 1925-1928, vol. 3 de Fernand Léger: catalogue raisonné, pp. 100–230, ed. A. Maeght, 1993
  8. "Testament sur le site de la Fondation Le Corbusier". Archived from the original on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2019.


Further reading
  • Jacques Sbriglio, Le Corbusier: les villas la Roche-Jeanneret, éd. Fondation Le Corbusier, 1997, ISBN 376435433X
  • La Revue des arts, vol. 3 à 4, pages 250–251, éd. Conseil des musées nationaux, 1953
  • Pierre Courthion, D'une palette à l'autre: mémoires d'un critique d'art, éd. Baconnière Arts, 2004, ISBN 2915306036
  • (in English) Andrew Ayers, The Architecture of Paris: An Architectural Guide, pages 245–247, Édition Axel Menges, 2004, ISBN 393069896X
  • (in English) Christopher Green, Art in France, 1900-1940, pages 57–58, ed. Yale University Press, 2003, ISBN 0300099088
  • La Roche, Raoul in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  • Modern Man: The Life of Le Corbusier, Architect of Tomorrow, p. 30
  • K. Schmidt, H. Fischer, éd., Ein Haus für den Kubismus: die Sammlung Raoul La Roche, p. 9 cat. expo. Bâle, 1998
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