Le Corbusier

Hands or gloves can already be found in Le Corbusier’s sketches and paintings from the 1920s. However, it took several decades before the idea of the “open hand” with its symbolic power emerged from them. In the last 15 years of Le Corbusier’s life, the open hand became a fixed idea of his. Almost obsessively, he realized the open hand in all of his techniques, from paintings and tableware to architecture; it appears in hundreds of sketches and on countless book covers. It is often his own hand, which he dipped in paint and pressed onto the wall or reproduced as a plaster cast. In this way, the open hand virtually became Le Corbusier’s signature image.

As shown in this depiction from 1954, Le Corbusier’s open hand is raised and his fingers are extended, with thumb and little finger splayed conspicuously. Le Corbusier originally invented the open hand as a political symbol intended to counter the raised revolutionary fist of the Communists with a gesture of communicativeness. It was intended as a symbol of give and take.

As part of his commission for the new town of Chandigarh in India in the 1950s, Le Corbusier was also responsible for the government district, the Capitol. For the first time, he wanted to build the open hand as a monumental sculpture on a square between the government buildings. In spite of years of effort, the project ultimately floundered. It was not until 20 years after his death that Le Corbusier’s open hand was finally erected at Chandigarh with the help of a fundraising campaign.