Page 132 - Libro Max Cetto

The Story of a Book. Modern Architecture in Mexico Cristina López Uribe and Salvador Lizárraga Sánchez

24, 1956, indicating that he took his time to consider it, although the letter makes it clear
that he doubted that he could make this book of interest to his committee. 11
As for the publishing house Gerd Hatje –now Hatje Cantz– this is not a publisher
like any other. In 1945, after the arid period of the Nazi regime’s “intellectual” culture, the
12
typographer Gerd Hatje obtained from the Franco-American military government that
ruled Germany a much-sought-after license to publish. By 1947, the company began op-
erating under the name Gerd Hatje Verlag, and during the fifties, the publisher discovered
the themes that remain at the heart of its books: the fine arts, modern architecture and
international design. It is also at this time that the editor’s friendship with internationally-
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renowned architects, artists and art historians begins. The young company quickly built
relationships with publishers in the most important cultural capitals, which consolidated
its international approach. Simultaneous with the process of editing Cetto’s book, Hatje
was editing, for example, Ronchamp, by Le Corbusier (1957), and his most ambitious pub-
lishing project: Mein Werk (1960), this was no small thing, considering the importance
that, until his death, Le Corbusier gave to his books, something which has been widely
studied. The architect was apparently very impressed by the quality of the German edition
of Propos d’Urbanisme (1954), unlike the French edition of the same book, which he found
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“wretched.” He entrusted these two important publishing projects to Hatje because he
admired his professionalism, to the degree of congratulating him on the relevance of his
comments and corrections, something unusual for Le Corbusier. Despite being intimidated
by the superb, authoritarian architect, the young Hatje negotiated without yielding and
triumphed over his demands. 15
This is the universe in which Max Cetto sought to release a book about Mexico. No
other book managed to position Mexican architecture in such an important editorial and
cultural context. Mexican architecture –and Max Cetto as an author– were placed on the
same level as Le Corbusier, Niemeyer or Giedion, inserted into the very heart of the most
important international debates on architecture. Cetto explained this intention in his own
way in the introductory text to the book:

I believe that one can do no better service to the architects of this country, which
stands apart by virtue of the sharpness of its contrasts and the ingenuousness of its
artistic expression, than to place their achievement within the general development of
architecture and, in this larger frame, see it as an example which has validity beyond
their own frontiers. 16

The confidence with which the architect approached three world-renowned publish-
ers makes us assume that it was a project that he considered to be very solid. What drove
Cetto to propose a new book on Mexican architecture just four years after Myers had
been published, with widespread distribution and international presence? What did he
imagine his book would offer to the international community which Myers’ book did
not offer? Why was he looking for foreign publishers and not Mexicans like Paul Wes-

11 Letter from Atkins to Cetto, September 24, 1956 (AMCC).
12 The fact that he was a typographer has been pointed out as playing a crucial role in the care he brought to his publica-
tions. Catherine de Smet, Le Corbusier, 64.
13 Information about the publisher obtained from its website: www.hatjecantz.de.
14 First edition: Paris: Bourrelier, 1946. Letter from Le Corbusier to Elisa Maillard, July 15, 1947. Fundation Le Cor-
busier (FLC; G3-10-91) quoted in Catherine de Smet, Le Corbusier, 63.
15 Catherine de Smet reveals that, in 1963, Le Corbusier received Picasso’s complete works from Hatje and expressed his
hope that he would make him a book of his own graphic work. The editor responded that perhaps something would be
possible in a new series devoted to “those artistic œuvres whose success is not yet secure.” This was, according to De Smet,
“Straight talk from a true publisher.” See Catherine de Smet, Le Corbusier, 64.
16 Max Cetto, Modern Architecture in Mexico, 12.

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