Manner of Amédée Ozenfant - Oil painting on cardboard signed 1923

Ozenfant is best known as the co-founder, with the Swiss Le Corbusier, of Purism, a movement that called for a return to order in painting during the tumultuous years that followed the Great War. Reacting against Cubism, which he dismissed as a "decorative art of romantic ornament", Ozenfant conceived of a modern style of painting that promoted clarity, harmony, and precision. But for many, Ozenfant exerted his greatest influence as a writer and educator. Indeed, Ozenfant came to be regarded as one of modernism's most erudite and provocative commentators. He was a formative influence on the architect Le Corbusier and with him co-authored the book-length Purist manifesto, Après le Cubisme (After Cubism), and co-founded the influential cross-disciplinary arts review, L'Esprit Nouveau (A New Spirit). Ozenfant carried great influence into the classroom, too, establishing his successful "Ozenfant Academies" in Paris, London, and New York.