Oscar Niemeyer in 6 major works

Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) is perhaps the best known 20th century architect in the world along with Le Corbusier Corbusier. Father of Brazilian modernism, he gained international recognition international fame with the project to build a new capital for Brazil, Brasilia Brasilia, which was inaugurated with great fanfare in 1960. Heir to the pioneers of modern of modern architecture and subsequently of the international style, Niemeyer develop his own architectural language. Active until the end of his life, his last major his last great achievement, the Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Centre Niemeyer International Cultural Centre opened one year before his death, in 2011. Focus on 6 major works that define his style, a “tropicalising” modernism.

Oscar Niemeyer was born in 1907 in Rio de Janeiro. As a child, he worked in the family printing shop, his father being a graphic father was a graphic designer. In 1929, he entered the School of Fine Arts in Rio and graduated in 1934 with a degree in architecture in 1934 with a degree in architecture. He began by working for free for the renowned architect Lucio Costa (1902-1998), conscious of to confront his ideas with the best of what was being done at the time

Good luck! Lucio Costa will allow Niemeyer to make his first steps on very ambitious projects ambitious projects. Thus, in 1936, Niemeyer worked with Lucio Costa on the the project for the Ministry of Education and Public Health in Rio; with, excuse the pun, Le Corbusier as a consultant!

Lucio Costa launched Niemeyer’s career. The 1930s were marked in architecture by the development of the International Style. Walter Gropius (1883-1969) and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), respectively founder and last Director of the Bauhaus SchoolIn the United States, Walter Gropius (1883-1969) and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), the founder and last director of the architect’s office, successfully exported to the United States their concept of modern architecture, which was marked by a high degree of minimalism, a rejection of ornament and the adoption of glass, steel and concrete as basic materials. Oscar Niemeyer was very attracted to the modern architecture advocated by Le Corbusier, whose theories were quite similar to those of Gropius and Mies van der Rohe.

If the ideas of modern if the ideas of modern architecture appeal to Oscar Niemeyer, in 1943 he produced his first his first major achievement, which bore the seeds of his architectural signature. The Church of Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Belo Horizonte, commonly called in Portuguese “Igreja de Pampulha” is one of the first buildings of modern style in Brazil

In 1953, Niemeyer had a residence built for his family in Canoas in Barra de Tijuca, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. A personal project, it reveals Niemeyer’s taste for the simplicity of curves and the purity of lines. Niemeyer broke away from the rigid and functional style of Le Corbusier. The building is a fusion of organic architecture – Frank Lloyd Wright comes to mind – and minimalist architecture

Then came the consecration with the pharaonic project to open up the heart of the Brazilian central plateau with the creation of a new capital, Brasilia. Juscelino Kubitschek, Governor of the state of Minas Gervais, became President of Brazil (1956-1961). He knew Niemeyer from the construction of the Igreja de Pampulha and, without hesitation, sought him out with Costa to build the symbol of modern Brazil. Lucio Costa was the chief town planner, while Oscar Niemeyer was responsible for the construction of the main public buildings. Among Niemeyer’s emblematic achievements, the Brasilia Cathedral (1959-1970) is one of the masterpieces of the Carioca master.

With the arrival in power of the dictatorship in Brazil on 31 March 1964, Oscar Niemeyer, a member of the Brazilian brazilian Communist Party, was forced to flee. He found refuge in France, where he would he found refuge in France, where he exercised his talent for two decades. Among Niemeyer’s major projects the construction of the “Volcano” (1978-1982), a huge “upside-down yoghurt pot in which the Maison de la Culture du Havre was installed in 1990, made its mark on people’s minds

Although Niemeyer defined himself primarily as an architect, he also designed furniture during his long career furniture. In 1978, he designed the famous Rio lounge chair with his daughter Anna Maria Niemeyer rio lounge chair. Elegant and graceful, this seat is a new praise for the curves to the curves that Niemeyer loved so much.

If his architectural work is associated with the international style and modern architecture, Oscar Niemeyer the rectilinear forms of his predecessors to propose a more organic and sensual international style and sensual international style. The man who says he has always loved curves because they are the very essence of nature, and who opposes the uniformity of the uniformity of repetitive systems in architecture, has created a new architectural expression, an ode to poetry and freedom of form freedom of form.

The last emblematic work of the emblematic work of the brilliant architect that we have chosen, the design of the Museum of the last emblematic work of the brilliant architect that we have chosen is the design of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, built on the shores of the Bay of Rio between 1991 and 1996, is a masterful synthesis of Niemeyer’s expertise and style. Assisted by engineer Bruno Conrini, Niemeyer designed a revolutionary figure whose circular forms the circular shapes of which are reminiscent of a saucer. The whole thing is obviously made of raw concrete painted pure white. The visitor is invited to walk along a long curved ramp that leads to the interior of the building. A poetic work that resembles a flower a flower emerging from the cliff; Niemeyer’s futuristic testament Niemeyer’s futuristic testament.

François Boutard