Charlotte Perriand

Charlotte Perriand: A Life of Creation--published in France in 1998--is the autobiography of the acclaimed French designer, who died in 1999. Perriand recounts her time in the atelier of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret (where she developed the sculptural chaise longue and the grand confort chair); her experiences in Russia, the Far East, and South America; and the projects she worked on after leaving Le Corbusier's atelier in 1937. Her fascinating memoir is unique not only in its firsthand depiction of the goals and tenets of the heroic period of modern architecture but also in its portrayal of a century of life in Paris.