Wednesday, 8th June, 6-7.30pm, Birbeck Cinema, 43 Gordon Square

What are the issues in conserving a house whose unique value lies in the organisation of space through the use of furniture? Almost all the fixed and movable pieces of furniture by Eileen Gray were sold or stolen in the 1980s. Presenting the house empty is not an option. I will discuss the problems facing the Association Cap Moderne, currently in charge of the restoration, upkeep and management of the villa.

Tim Benton is Professor of Art History at the Open University (Emeritus), and has served as Visiting Professor at the Bard Graduate Center (2003) and the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University, New York (2007). He was the Clark Visiting Professor at Williams College in the Spring, 2009. He has also taught as visiting professor at the EPFL Lausanne and at the Architectural Association, London. He has lectured widely in the United States, Brazil, Italy, Spain and France. He is a noted scholar of the works of Le Corbusier. Professor Benton has acted as associate curator in several major exhibitions including Art and Power Hayward Gallery,1995), Art Deco 1910-1939 (V&A, 2003), Modernism Designing a New World 1918-1939 (V&A, 2006) and Modern Taste: Art Deco in Paris 1910-1934 (Madrid 2015). Among his recent books are The Rhetoric of Modernism Le Corbusier as lecturer (Birkhauser 2007), a new edition of his book The Villas of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret (Birkhauser, Basel), LC Foto: Le Corbusier secret photographer (Lars Müller 2013), Le Corbusier peintre à Cap Martin and Mes années sauvages sur le basin 1926-1936 (Imprimerie Ibep, 2015). He has also acted as scriptwriter and consultant for a film on Le Corbusier’s vacations (2016).