ABSTRACT
The standard biographical sketch suggests that Amedee Ozenfant's connection to architecture was through Le Corbusier, but a more complete introduction would recall the conditions at the beginning of their collaboration. Though Ozenfant vtrained as a quite traditional painter he spent the year before meeting Le Corbusier supervising the construction of a concrete factory building. In 1937 the French painter Ozenfant wrote articles about color for the highly respected Architectural Review in London. In London, Ozenfant severely criticized the use of a 'whitish pseudo stone facing' as the unsuccessful trick of young architects who believed that if 'it's white', then 'it's modern'. Ozenfant's career as a painter and teacher, his collaboration with Le Corbusier and even his clothing boutique, 'Amedee', recommend him as a guide to a full genealogy of color in modern architecture. A genealogical study of color reveals the forms of prohibition and longing that prompt its investigation.
