Oscar Niemeyer - Wikipedia

13/06/2020 Oscar Niemeyer - Wikipedia
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho
(December 15, 1907 – December 5, 2012), known as Oscar Oscar Niemeyer
Niemeyer (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈoskaʁ ni.eˈmajeʁ]), was a
Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the
development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was best known
for his design of civic buildings for Brasília, a planned city that
became Brazil's capital in 1960, as well as his collaboration with
other architects on the headquarters of the United Nations in
New York. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of
reinforced concrete was highly influential in the late 20th and
early 21st centuries.
Both lauded and criticized for being a "sculptor of

monuments",[1] Niemeyer was hailed as a great artist and one
of the greatest architects of his generation by his supporters.[2]
He said his architecture was strongly influenced by Le
Corbusier, but in an interview, assured that this "didn't prevent
[his] architecture from going in a different direction".[3]
Niemeyer was most famous for his use of abstract forms and
curves and wrote in his memoirs:
Oscar Niemeyer in 1968
Born Oscar Ribeiro de
I am not attracted to straight angles or to the
straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. I Almeida Niemeyer
am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The Soares Filho
curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in December 15, 1907
the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Died December 5, 2012
Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved (aged 104)
Universe of Einstein.[4]
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nationality Brazil
Niemeyer was educated at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes at
Alma mater Escola Nacional de
the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and after graduating,
he worked at his father's typography house and as a draftsman Belas Artes (1934)
for local architectural firms. In the 1930s, he interned with Federal University of
Lúcio Costa, with the pair collaborating on the design for the Rio de Janeiro
Palácio Gustavo Capanema in Rio de Janeiro. Niemeyer's first Occupation Architect
major project was a series of buildings for Pampulha, a planned
Spouse(s) Annita Baldo (m.1928
suburb north of Belo Horizonte. His work, especially on the
Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, received critical acclaim and d.2004)
drew international attention. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Vera Lucia Cabreira
Niemeyer became one of Brazil's most prolific architects, (m.2006)
working both domestically and overseas. This included the Awards 1963 Lenin Peace Prize
design of the Edifício Copan (a large residential building in São
Paulo) and a collaboration with Le Corbusier (and others) on 1988 Pritzker Prize
the United Nations Headquarters, which yielded invitations to 1989 Prince of Asturias
teach at Yale University and the Harvard Graduate School of Awards
Design.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Niemeyer 1/19
In 1956, Niemeyer was invited by Brazil's new president, 1998 RIBA Royal Gold
Juscelino Kubitschek, to design the civic buildings for Brazil's Medal
new capital, which was to be built in the centre of the country,
2004 Praemium
far from any existing cities. His designs for the National
Congress of Brazil, the Cathedral of Brasília, the Palácio da Imperiale
Alvorada, the Palácio do Planalto, and the Supreme Federal Buildings Palácio do Planalto
Court, all designed by 1960, were experimental and linked by
common design elements. This work led to his appointment as Palácio da Alvorada
inaugural head of architecture at the University of Brasília, as Palácio do Jaburu
well as honorary membership of the American Institute of Cathedral of Brasília
Architects. Due to his largely left-wing ideology, and
involvement with the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), National Congress of
Niemeyer left the country after the 1964 military coup and Brazil
opened an office in Paris. He returned to Brazil in 1985, and Edifício Copan
was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in
Ibirapuera Park
1988. A socialist and atheist from an early age, Niemeyer had
spent time in both Cuba and the Soviet Union during his exile, Headquarters of the
and on his return served as the PCB's president from 1992 to United Nations
1996. Niemeyer continued working at the end of the 20th and Niterói Contemporary
early 21st century, notably designing the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum
Art Museum (1996) and the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (2002).
Over a career of 78 years he designed approximately 600 Latin America Memorial
projects.[5] Niemeyer died in Rio de Janeiro on December 5, Gustavo Capanema
2012, at the age of 104. Palace
French Communist
Party Headquarters
Contents Projects Museum of Modern Art
Biography in Caracas
Early life and education Signature
Early career
Brazilian modernism
1939 New York World's Fair
Pampulha Project
1940s and 1950s
Tremaine House (unbuilt)
Depoimento
Design of Brasília
Exile and projects overseas
Later life and death
Personal life
Political and religious views
Criticism
Legacy
Decorations and awards
See also
References
Further reading
External links
Biography
Early life and education
Niemeyer was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro on December 15, 1907.[3] The great grandfather of
Oscar Niemeyer was a Portuguese immigrant who, in turn, was the grandson of a German soldier
who had settled in Portugal.[6][7] Niemeyer spoke about it: "my name ought to have been Oscar
Ribeiro de Almeida de Niemeyer Soares, or simply Oscar de Almeida Soares, but the foreign surname
prevailed and I am known simply as Oscar Niemeyer".[8] He spent his youth as a typical young
Carioca of the time: bohemian and relatively unconcerned with his future.[9] In 1928, at age 21,
Niemeyer left school (Santo Antonio Maria Zaccaria priory school) and married Annita Baldo,[3]
daughter of Italian immigrants from Padua.
He pursued his passion at the National School of Fine Arts in Rio de

Janeiro (Escola Nacional de Belas Artes) and graduated with a BA in
architecture in 1934.[3]
Early career
After graduating, he worked in his father's typography house. Even though

he was not financially stable, he insisted on working in the architecture
studio of Lúcio Costa, Gregori Warchavchik and Carlos Leão, even though
they could not pay him. Niemeyer joined them as a draftsman, an art that
he mastered (Corbusier himself would later compliment Niemeyer's
'beautiful perspectives'[10]). The contact with Costa would be extremely
important to Niemeyer's maturation. Costa, after an initial flirtation with
the Neocolonial movement, realized that the advances of the International
Style in Europe were the way forward for architecture. His writings on the
insights that could unite Brazil's traditional colonial architecture (such as
that in Olinda) with modernist principles would be the basis of the
architecture that he and his contemporaries, such as Affonso Eduardo
Niemeyer in 1917 Reidy, would later realize.
In 1936, at 29, Lúcio Costa was appointed by Education Minister Gustavo

Capanema to design the new headquarters of the Ministry of Education and Health in Rio de Janeiro.
Costa himself, although open to change, was unsure of how to proceed. He assembled a group of
young architects (Carlos Leão, Affonso Eduardo Reidy, Jorge Moreira and Ernani Vasconcellos) to
design the building. He also insisted that Le Corbusier himself should be invited as a consultant.
Though Niemeyer was not initially part of the team, Costa agreed to accept him after Niemeyer
insisted. During the period of Le Corbusier's stay in Rio, he was appointed to help the master with his
drafts, which allowed him a close contact with the Swiss. After his departure, Niemeyer's significant
changes to Corbusier's scheme impressed Costa, who allowed him to progressively take charge of the
project, of which he assumed leadership in 1939.
Brazilian modernism
The Ministry of Education had assumed the task of shaping the "novo homem, Brasileiro e moderno"
(new man, Brazilian and modern). It was the first state-sponsored modernist skyscraper in the world,
of a much larger scale than anything Le Corbusier had built until then. Completed in 1943,[11] when
he was 36 years old, the building that housed the regulator and manager of Brazilian culture and
cultural heritage developed the elements of what was to become recognized as Brazilian modernism.
It employed local materials and techniques, like the azulejos linked to the Portuguese tradition; the
revolutionized Corbusian brises-soleil, made adjustable and related to

the Moorish shading devices of colonial architecture; bold colors; the
tropical gardens of Roberto Burle Marx; the Imperial Palm (Roystonea
oleracea), known as the Brazilian order; further allusions to the icons of
the Brazilian landscape; and specially commissioned works by Brazilian
artists. This building is considered by some architects as one of the most
influential of the 20th century. It was taken as a model on how to blend
low- and high-rise structures (Lever House).
1939 New York World's Fair
In 1939, at age 32, Niemeyer and Costa designed the Brazilian pavilion
for the New York World's Fair (executed in collaboration with Paul Ministry of Education and
Lester Wiener). Neighbouring the much larger French pavilion, the Health, Rio de Janeiro
Brazilian structure contrasted with its heavy mass. Costa explained that
the Brazilian Pavilion adopted a language of 'grace and elegance',
lightness and spatial fluidity, with an open plan, curves and free walls, which he termed 'Ionic',
contrasting it to the mainstream contemporary modernist architecture, which he termed 'Doric'.
Impressed by its avant-garde design, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia awarded Niemeyer the keys to the
city of New York.
In 1937, Niemeyer was invited by a relative to design a nursery for philanthropic institution which
catered for young mothers, the Obra do Berço. It would become his first finalised work.[12] However,
Niemeyer has said that his architecture really began in Pampulha, Minas Gerais, and as he explained
in an interview, Pampulha was the starting point of this freer architecture full of curves which I still
love even today. It was in fact, the beginning of Brasília ....[3]
Pampulha Project
In 1940, at 33, Niemeyer met Juscelino Kubitschek, who was at

the time the mayor of Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of
Minas Gerais. Kubitschek, together with the state's governor
Benedito Valadares, wanted to develop a new suburb to the north
of the city called Pampulha and commissioned Niemeyer to
design a series of buildings which would become known as the
"Pampulha architectural complex". The complex included a
casino, a restaurant/dance hall, a yacht club, a golf club and a
church, all of which would be distributed around a new artificial
The free-form marquee at Casa do
lake. A weekend retreat for the mayor was built near the lake.
Baile
The buildings were completed in 1943 and received international
acclaim following the 1943 'Brazil Builds' exhibition, at the New
York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Most of the buildings show Niemeyer's particular approach to
the Corbusian language. In the casino, with its relatively rigid main façade, Niemeyer departed from
Corbusian principles and designed curved volumes outside the confinement of a rational grid.[13] He
also expanded upon Corbusier's idea of a promenade architecturale with his designs for floating
catwalk-like ramps which unfold open vistas to the occupants.
The small restaurant (Casa do Baile), which is perhaps the least bourgeois of the complex, is built on
its own artificial island and comprises an approximately circular block from which a free-form
marquee follows the contour of the island. Although free form had been used even in Corbusier's and
Mies's architecture, its application on an outdoors marquee was Niemeyer's innovation. This
application of free-form, together with the butterfly roof used at the Yacht Club and Kubitschek's
house became extremely fashionable from then on.
The Saint Francis of Assisi church is considered the masterpiece

of the complex. When it was built, reinforced concrete was used
in traditional ways, such as in pillar, beam and slab structures.
Auguste Perret, in Casablanca and Robert Maillart in Zurich had
experimented with the plastic freedom of concrete, taking
advantage of the parabolic arch's geometry to build extremely
thin shells. Niemeyer's decision to use such an economical
approach, based on the inherent plasticity allowed by reinforced
concrete was revolutionary. According to Joaquim Cardoso,[14]
the unification of wall and roof into a single element was
revolutionary for fusing vertical and horizontal elements. The São Francisco de Assis Church,
church's exuberance added to the integration between Belo Horizonte City, Minas Gerais,
architecture and art. The church is covered by Azulejos by Brazil
Portinari and tile murals by Paulo Werneck. It led to the church
being seen as baroque. Though some European purists
condemned its formalism, the fact that the form's idea was directly linked to a logical, structural
reason placed the building in the 20th century, while refusing to break completely from the past.
Due to its importance in the history of architecture, the church was the first listed modern building in
Brazil. This fact did not influence the conservative church authorities of Minas Gerais, who refused to
consecrate it until 1959, in part because of its unorthodox form and in part because of Portinari's altar
mural, which depicts Saint Francis as the savior of the ill, the poor and, most importantly, the sinner.
Niemeyer stated that Pampulha offered him the opportunity to 'challenge the monotony of
contemporary architecture, the wave of misinterpreted functionalism that hindered it and the
dogmas of form and function that had emerged, counteracting the plastic freedom that reinforced
concrete introduced. I was attracted by the curve – the liberated, sensual curve suggested by the
possibilities of new technology yet so often recalled in venerable old baroque churches. [...] I
deliberately disregarded the right angle and rationalist architecture designed with ruler and square to
boldly enter the world of curves and straight lines offered by reinforced concrete. [...] This deliberate
protest arose from the environment in which I lived, with its white beaches, its huge mountains, its
old baroque churches and the beautiful suntanned women.'[4]
The experience also marked the first collaborations between Niemeyer and Roberto Burle Marx,
considered the most important modern landscape architect. They would be partners in many projects
in the next 10 years.
1940s and 1950s
With the success of Pampulha and the Brazil Builds exhibition, Niemeyer's achieved international
recognition. His architecture further developed the brazilian style that the Saint Francis of Assissi
Church and, to a lesser extent (due to its primary Corbusian language) the Ministry building, had
pioneered. Works of this period shows the traditional modernist method in which form follows
function, but Niemeyer's (and other Brazilian architects) handling of scale, proportion and program
allowed him to resolve complex problems with simple and intelligent plans.[15] Stamo Papadaki in his
monography on Niemeyer mentioned the spatial freedom that characterized his work. The
headquarters of the Banco Boavista, inaugurated in 1948 show such an approach.[16] Dealing with a
typical urban site, Niemeyer adopted creative solutions to enliven the otherwise monolithic high rise,
thus challenging the predominant solidity which was the norm for bank buildings.[17] The glazed
south façade (with least insulation) reflects the 19th century Candelária Church, showing Niemeyer's
sensitivity to the surroundings and older architecture. Such austere designs to high rises within urban
grids can also be seen in the Edifício Montreal (1951–1954), Edifício Triângulo (1955) and the Edifício
Sede do Banco Mineiro da Produção.
In 1947, Niemeyer returned to New York City to integrate the

international team working on the design for the United Nations
headquarters. Niemeyer's scheme 32 was approved by the Board of
Design, but he eventually gave in to pressure by Le Corbusier, and
together they submitted project 23/32 (developed with Bodiansky and
Weissmann), which combined elements from Niemeyer's and Le
Corbusier's schemes. Despite Le Corbusier's insistence to remain
involved, the design was carried forward by the Director of Planning,
Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz, then a partnership.
Tremaine House (unbuilt)
Headquarters of the Banco This stay in the United States also facilitated contact regarding the
Mineiro da Produção, Belo unbuilt Burton G. Tremaine house project, one of Niemeyer's boldest
Horizonte residential designs. Amidst gardens by Roberto Burle Marx, it featured
an open plan in Montecito, California on the Pacific Ocean.[18] In
February-April 1949, the Museum of Modern Art exhibited From Le
Corbusier to Niemeyer: Savoye House - Tremaine House 1949. According to the museum, "The
theme of this show is based on Henry Russell-Hitchcock’s book on the Miller (Company) Collection of
abstract art, Painting toward architecture...".[19] In 2010, Berry Bergdoll, a curator at MoMA asserted
the importance of the exhibition as fusing strands of the geometric and organic soon after WWII.[20].
Hitchcock's seminal essay in the Painting toward architecture book included an illustration of
Niemeyer's design, and in an associated 28-venue exhibition, Burle-Marx's Design for a garden
(1948) was exhibited in several shows, as was a photo mural of Church at Pampulha.[21][22][23]
Niemeyer produced very few designs for the United States because his affiliation to the Communist
Party usually prevented him from obtaining a visa. This happened in 1946 when he was invited to
teach at Yale University, when his political views cost him a visa. In 1953, at 46, Niemeyer was
appointed dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, but because of his political views the
United States government denied his visa therefore preventing him from entering the country.
In 1950 the first book about his work to be published in the United States, The Work of Oscar
Niemeyer by Stamo Papadaki was released. It was the first systematic study of his architecture, which
significantly contributed to the awareness of his work abroad. It would be followed in 1956 by Oscar
Niemeyer: Works in Progress, by the same author.[24] By this time, Niemeyer was already self-
confident and following his own path internationally In 1948 Niemeyer departed from the parabolic
arches he had designed in Pampulha to further explore his signature material, concrete.
Niemeyer's formal creativity has been compared to that of

sculptors.[25] In the 1950s, a time of intensive construction in
Brazil produced numerous commissions. Yves Bruand[26]
stressed that Niemeyer's 1948 project for a theatre next to the
Ministry of Education and Health allowed him to develop his
vocabulary. In 1950 he was asked to design São Paulo's
Ibirapuera Park for the city's 400th anniversary celebration. The
plan, which consisted of several porticoed pavilions related via a
gigantic free form marquee, had to be simplified due to cost. The Palácio da Agricultura, current MAC
resulting buildings were less interesting individually, which USP, showing the V shaped pilotis
meant that the ensemble effect became the dominant aesthetic
experience. Niemeyer developed V-shaped pilotis for the project,
which became fashionable for a time. A variation on that theme was the W-shaped piloti which
supports the Governador Juscelino Kubitschek housing complex (1951), two large buildings
containing around 1,000 apartments. Its design was based on Niemeyer's scheme for the
Quitandinha apartment hotel in Petrópolis designed one year earlier, but never realised. At 33 stories
and over 400 meters long, it was to contain 5,700 living unites together with communal services such
as shops, schools etc., his version of Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation.[12]
A similar program was realized in the centre of São Paulo, the Copan
apartment building (1953–66). This landmark represents a microcosm
of the diverse population of the city. Its horizontality, which is
emphasized by the concrete brise-soleil, together with the fact that it
was a residential building made it an interesting approach to popular
housing, given that in the 1950s suburbanization had begun and city
centres were being occupied primarily by business, usually occupying
vertical "masculine" buildings, as opposed to Niemeyer's "feminine"
approach.[27] In 1954 Niemeyer also designed the "Niemeyer apartment
building" at the Praça da Liberdade, Belo Horizonte. The building's
completely free form layout is reminiscent of Mies van der Rohe's 1922
glass skyscraper, although with a much more material feel than the airy
German one. Also in 1954 as part of the same plaza Niemeyer built a
library the (Biblioteca Pública Estadual).
Edifício Copan, São Paulo
During this period Niemeyer built several residences. Among them were
a weekend house for his father, in Mendes (1949), developed from a
chicken coop, the Prudente de Morais Neto house, in Rio (1943–49), based on Niemeyer's original
design for Kubitschek's house in Pampulha, a house for Gustavo Capanema (1947) (the minister who
commissioned the Ministry of Education and Health building), the Leonel Miranda house (1952),
featuring two spiral ramps which provide access to the butterfly-roofed first floor, lifted up on oblique
piloti. These houses featured the same inclined façade used in the Tremaine design, which allowed
good natural lighting. In 1954 he built the famous Cavanelas house, with its tent-like metallic roof
and which, with the help of Burle Marx's gardens, is perfectly adapted to its mountainous site.[28]
However, his residential (and free-form architecture) masterpiece is considered to be the 1953
Canoas House Niemeyer built for himself. The house is located on sloped terrain overlooking the
ocean from afar. It comprises two floors, the first of which is under a free form roof, supported on
thin metallic columns. The living quarters is located on the floor below and is more traditionally
divided. The design takes advantage of the uneven terrain so that the house seems not to disturb the
landscape. Although the house is extremely well-suited to its environment, it did not escape criticism.
Niemeyer recalled that Walter Gropius, who was visiting the country as a jury in the second Biennial
exhibition in São Paulo, argued that the house could not be mass-produced, to which Niemeyer
responded that the house was designed with himself in mind and for that particular site, not a general
flat one.[29] For Henry-Russell Hitchcock, the house at Canoas was Niemeyer's most extreme lyrical
statement, placing rhythm and dance as the antithesis of utility.[30]
Depoimento
In 1953 modern Brazilian architecture, which had been praised since Brazil Builds, became the target
of international criticism, mainly from rationalists. Niemeyer's architecture in particular was
criticised by Max Bill in an interview for Manchete Magazine.[31] He attacked Niemeyer's use of free-
form as purely decorative (as opposed to Reidy's Pedregulho housing), his use of mural panels and
the individualistic character of his architecture which "is in risk of falling in a dangerous anti-social
academicism". He even belittled Niemeyer's V piloti, as purely aesthetic.
Niemeyer's first response was denial, followed by a counterattack based on Bill's patronizing attitude,
which prevented him from considering the differing social and economic realities of Brazil and
European countries. Costa also stressed that Brazilian (and Niemeyer's) architecture was based on
unskilled work which allowed for a crafted architecture based on concrete, expressing a tradition of
(Brazilian) church builders, as opposed to (Swiss) clock builders.[32]
Although it was badly received and to an

extent an exaggeration, Bill's words were
effective in bringing to attention the
mediocre architecture coming from less
talented architects, who employed
Niemeyer's vocabulary in the decorative
fashion that Bill had criticised. Niemeyer
himself admitted that for a certain period
he had "handled too many commissions,
executing them in a hurry, trusting the
improvisational skills he believed to
have".[33] The Califórnia Building (Edifício
Oscar Niemeyer, in 1958. Califórnia) in São Paulo is an example.
Usually neglected by its creator, it features Califórnia Building (Edifício
the V piloti which had worked so well in Califórnia), São Paulo
isolated buildings, creating a different treatment to that space without
the need for two separate structural systems as Corbusier had done in
Marseille. Its use in a typical urban context was formalistic and even compromised the building's
structural logic in that it required many different sized supports.[34]
Berlin's 1957 Interbau exhibition gave Niemeyer the chance to build an example of his architecture in
Germany along with the chance to visit Europe for the first time. The contact with the monuments of
the old world had a lasting impact on Niemeyer's views, which he now believed was completely
dependent on its aesthetic qualities. Together with his own realisations of how Brazilian architecture
had been harmed by untalented architects, this trip led Niemeyer to revise his approach, which he
published as a text named Depoimento in his Módulo Magazine. He proposed a simplification,
discarding multiple elements such as brises, sculptural piloti and marquees. His architecture from
then on would be a pure expression of structure as a representation of solid volumes.[35] His design
method would also change, prioritizing aesthetic impact over programmatic functions, given that for
him "when form creates beauty, it has in beauty itself its justification".[36]
In 1955, at 48, Niemeyer designed the Museum of Modern Art in

Caracas. The design of this museum was the material realization
of his work revision. Meant to rise from the top of a cliff
overlooking central Caracas, the museum had an inverted
pyramid shape which dominated and overpowered its
surroundings. The opaque prismatic building had almost no
connection to the outside through its walls, although its glass
Model of the Museum of Modern Art ceiling allowed natural light to enter. An electronic system was
in Caracas used to keep lighting conditions unchanged throughout the day
using artificial light to complement it. The interior, however, was
more recognizably done in Niemeyer's mode, with cat-walk
ramps linking the different levels and the mezzanine made as a free-form slab hung from ceiling
beams.
This aesthetic simplicity would culminate in his work in Brasília, where the qualities of the buildings
are expressed by their structural elements alone.
Design of Brasília
Juscelino Kubitschek visited Niemeyer at the Canoas House in September 1956, soon after he
assumed the Brazilian presidency. While driving back to the city, the politician spoke to the architect
about his most audacious scheme: "I am going to build a new capital for this country and I want you
to help me [...] Oscar, this time we are going to build the capital of Brazil."[37]
Niemeyer organized a competition for the lay-out of Brasília, the

new capital, and the winner was the project of his old master and
great friend, Lúcio Costa. Niemeyer would design the buildings,
Lucio the layout of the city.
In the space of a few months, Niemeyer designed residential,

commercial and government buildings. Among them were the Ministries Esplanade with several of
residence of the President (Palácio da Alvorada), the chamber of Niemeyer's buildings: the National
deputies, the National Congress of Brazil, the Cathedral of Congress, the Cathedral, the
Brasília (a hyperboloid structure), diverse ministries. Viewed National Museum and the National
from above, the city can be seen to have elements that repeat Library, Brasília, D.F., 2006
themselves in every building, achieving a formal unity.
Behind the construction of Brasília lay a monumental campaign

to construct an entire city in the barren center of the country
[38]., hundreds of kilometers from any major city. The brainchild
of Kubitschek, Niemeyer had as aims included stimulating
industry, integrating the country's distant areas, populating
inhospitable regions and bringing progress to a region where
only cattle ranching then existed. Niemeyer and Costa used it to
test new concepts of city planning: streets without transit, The National Congress of Brazil,
buildings floating off the ground supported by columns and Brasília
allowing the space underneath to be free and integrated with
nature.
The project adopted a socialist ideology: in Brasília all the apartments

would be owned by the government and rented to employees. Brasília
did not have "nobler" regions, meaning that top ministers and common
laborers would share the same building. Many of these concepts were
ignored or changed by other presidents with different visions in later
years. Brasília was designed, constructed, and inaugurated within four
years. After its completion, Niemeyer was named chief of the college of
architecture of the University of Brasília. In 1963, he became an
honorary member of the American Institute of Architects in the United
States; the same year, he received the Lenin Peace Prize from the USSR.
Niemeyer and his contribution to the construction of Brasília are

Cathedral of Brasília,
portrayed in the 1964 French movie L'homme de Rio (The Man From hyperboloid structure
Rio), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.
In 1964, at 57, after being invited by Abba Hushi, the mayor of

Haifa, Israel, to plan the campus of the University of Haifa, he
came back to a completely different Brazil. In March President
João Goulart, who succeeded President Jânio Quadros in 1961,
was deposed in a military coup. General Castelo Branco assumed
command of the country, which would remain a dictatorship
until 1985.
Palácio do Planalto, the official

Exile and projects overseas
workplace of the President of Brazil
Niemeyer's politics cost him during the military dictatorship. His

office was pillaged, the headquarters of the magazine he
coordinated were destroyed and clients disappeared. In 1965, two hundred professors, Niemeyer
among them, resigned from the University of Brasília, to protest against the government's treatment
of universities. In the same year he traveled to France for an exhibition in the Louvre.
The following year, Niemeyer moved to Paris. In 1962 he visited Tripoli, Lebanon to design the
International Permanent Exhibition Centre.[39] Despite completing construction, the start of the civil
war in 1975 in Lebanon disrupted its launch.
He opened an office on the Champs-Élysées and found customers in diverse countries, especially in
Algeria where he designed the University of Science and Technology-Houari Boumediene. In Paris he
created the headquarters of the French Communist Party,[11] Place du Colonel Fabien, and in Italy
that of the Mondadori publishing company. In Funchal on Madeira, he designed a casino.
While in Paris, Niemeyer began designing furniture that was produced by Mobilier International. He
created an easy chair and ottoman composed of bent steel and leather in limited numbers for private
clients. Later, in 1978, this chair and other designs, including the "Rio" chaise-longue were produced
in Brazil by Tendo company, then Tendo Brasileira. The easy chairs and ottomans were made of bent
wood and were placed in Communist party headquarters around the world. Much like his
architecture, Niemeyer's furniture designs evoked the beauty of Brazil, with curves mimicking the
female form and the hills of Rio de Janeiro.
Later life and death
The Brazilian dictatorship lasted until 1985. Under João Figueiredo's rule it softened and gradually
turned towards democracy. At this time Niemeyer returned to his country. During the 1980s, he
made the Memorial Juscelino Kubitschek (1980), the Pantheon (Panteão da Pátria e da Liberdade
Tancredo Neves, 1985) and the Latin America Memorial (1987) (described by The Independent of
London to be "an incoherent and vulgar construction").[40] The memorial sculpture represents a
wounded hand, whose wound bleeds in the shape of Central and South America. In 1988, at 81,
Niemeyer was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture's most prestigious award. From
1992 to 1996, Niemeyer was the president of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB). As a lifelong
activist, Niemeyer was a powerful public figure who could be linked to the party at a time when it
appeared to be in its death throes after the USSR's demise. Although not politically active, his image
helped the party survive its crisis, after the 1992 split and to remain as a political force on the national
scene, which eventually led to its renewal. He was replaced by Zuleide Faria de Mello in 1996. He
designed at least two more buildings in Brasilia, the Memorial dos Povos Indigenas[41] ("Memorial
for the Indigenous People") and the Catedral Militar, Igreja de N.S. da Paz.[42] In 1996, at the age of
89, he was responsible for the design of the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum in Niterói, a city next
to Rio de Janeiro. The building cantilevers out from a sheer rock face, offering a view of Guanabara
Bay and the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Niemeyer maintained his studio in Rio de Janeiro into the 21st century. In 2002, the Oscar Niemeyer
Museum complex was inaugurated in the city of Curitiba, Paraná. In 2003, at 96, Niemeyer was
called to design the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion in Hyde Park, London, a gallery that each
year invites a famous architect, who has never previously built in the UK, to design this temporary
structure. He was still involved in diverse projects at the age of 100, mainly sculptures and
adjustments of previous works. On Niemeyer's 100th birthday, Russia's president Vladimir Putin
awarded him the Order of Friendship.[43]
Grateful for the Prince of Asturias Award of Arts received in 1989, he collaborated on the 25th
anniversary of the award with the donation to Asturias of the design of a cultural centre. The Oscar
Niemeyer International Cultural Centre (also known in Spain as Centro Niemeyer), is located in
Avilés and was inaugurated in 2011. In January 2010, the Auditorium Oscar Niemeyer Ravello was
officially opened in Ravello, Italy, on the Amalfi Coast. The Auditorium's concept design, drawings,
model, sketches and text were made by Niemeyer in 2000 and completed under the guidance of his
friend, Italian sociologist Domenico de Masi. The project was delayed for several years due to
objections arising from its design, siting, and clear difference from the local architecture; since its
inauguration the project has experienced problems and was closed for a year.[44]
After reaching 100, Niemeyer was regularly hospitalized.[45] In 2009, after a four-week
hospitalization for the treatment of gallstones and an intestinal tumour, he was quoted as saying that
hospitalization is a "very lonely thing; I needed to keep busy, keep in touch with friends, maintain my
rhythm of life."[46] His daughter and only child, Anna Maria, died of emphysema in June 2012, aged
82.[47] Niemeyer died of cardiorespiratory arrest on December 5, 2012 at the Hospital Samaritano in
Rio de Janeiro.[48] He had been hospitalised with a respiratory infection prior to his death.[49]
The BBC's obituary of Niemeyer stated that he "built some of the world's most striking buildings –
monumental, curving concrete and glass structures which almost defy description", describing him as
"one of the most innovative and daring architects of the last 60 years".[50] The Washington Post said
he was "widely regarded as the foremost Latin American architect of the last century".[51]
The Niterói Contemporary Art Oscar Niemeyer Museum

Museum, Brazil (NovoMuseu), Curitiba, Brazil
Brazilian National Museum, Estação Cabo Branco, João

Brasília, Brazil Pessoa, Brazil
Natal City Park Tower, Natal,

Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Centre, Asturias, Brazil
Spain
Oscar
Niemeyer
Auditorium,
Ravello, Italy
Personal life
Niemeyer married Annita Baldo in 1928.[3] They had one daughter,
Anna Maria, in 1929 (she predeceased her father on June 6, 2012).[47]
Niemeyer subsequently had five grandchildren, thirteen great-
grandchildren, and seven great-great-grandchildren.[52] Annita died in
2004,[11] at 93, after 76 years of marriage. In 2006, shortly before his
99th birthday, Niemeyer married for the second time, to his longtime
secretary, Vera Lucia Cabreira[52] at his apartment, a month after he had
fractured his hip in a fall.[53]
Oscar Niemeyer was a keen smoker of cigars, smoking more in later life.
His architectural studio was a smoking zone.[54]
Oscar Niemeyer with Polish

Political and religious views architect Jerzy Swiech.
Niemeyer had a left-wing political ideology. In 1945, many communist

militants who were arrested under the Vargas' dictatorship were released, and Niemeyer sheltered
some of them at his office. He met Luís Carlos Prestes, perhaps the most important left-winger in
Brazil. After several weeks, he gave up the house to Prestes and his supporters, who founded the
Brazilian Communist Party.[55] Niemeyer joined the party in 1945[54] and became its president in
1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union.
During the military dictatorship of Brazil his office was raided and he was forced into exile in Europe.
The Minister of Aeronautics of the time reportedly said that "the place for a communist architect is
Moscow." He subsequently visited the Soviet Union, meeting with a number of the country's leaders,
and in 1963 was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.[11] Niemeyer was a close friend of Fidel Castro, who
often visited his apartment and studio in Brazil. Castro was once quoted as saying "Niemeyer and I
are the last communists on this planet."[11] Niemeyer was regularly visited by Hugo Chávez.[56]
Some critics pointed out that Niemeyer's architecture was often in opposition to his views.[26] His
first major work, the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, informally known also as the Church of
Pampulha, had a bourgeois character and Brasília was famous for its palaces. Niemeyer never saw
architecture in the same way as Walter Gropius, who defended a rational and industrial architecture
capable of molding society to make it suitable for the new industrial era. Skeptical about
architecture's ability to change an "unjust society", Niemeyer defended that such activism should be
undertaken politically. Using architecture for such purposes would be anti-modern (as it would be
limiting constructive technology).[57] Niemeyer says: "Our concern is political too – to change the
world ... Architecture is my work, and I've spent my whole life at a drawing board, but life is more
important than architecture. What matters is to improve human beings."[54]
Niemeyer was a lifelong atheist, basing his beliefs both on the "injustices of this world" and on
cosmological principles: "It's a fantastic Universe which humiliates us, and we can't make any use of
it. But we are amazed by the power of the human mind … in the end, that's it—you are born, you die,
that's it!".[29] Such views never stopped him from designing religious buildings, which included small
Catholic chapels, huge Orthodox churches and large mosques. He also catered to the spiritual beliefs
of the public who facilitated his religious buildings. In the Cathedral of Brasília, he intended for the
large glass windows "to connect the people to the sky, where their Lord's paradise is."
Criticism
Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic of The New York Times, published an article asking
whether Niemeyer's last work had been affected by advanced age. Ouroussoff found the "Niterói
Contemporary Art Museum" to be of significantly lower quality than the architect's earlier works. He
argued that "the greatest threat to Mr. Niemeyer's remarkable legacy may not be the developer's
bulldozer or insensitive city planners, but Mr. Niemeyer himself." He considers iconic works at
"Esplanada dos Ministérios" to "have been marred by the architect's own hand."[58]
Legacy
Since 1984 the Rio de Janeiro carnival parade is held in the
Sambadrome designed by Oscar Niemeyer.[59] In 2003 the
Unidos de Vila Isabel Samba School celebrated the life of
Niemeyer in their carnival parade.[60] It was the first time that
Vila Isabel paid tribute to a living historical figure. The parade's
theme song – O Arquiteto no Recanto da Princesa (http://letras.
mus.br/vila-isabel-rj/474003/) – was composed by the Brazilian
singer Martinho da Vila.
Mural honoring Niemeyer in São
Paulo, Brazil. Oscar Niemeyer's projects have also been a major source of
inspiration for the French painter Jacques Benoit.[61] In 2006
Benoit presented in Paris a series of paintings entitled Three
Traces of Oscar (http://www.jacquesbenoit.com/Trois_traces_d_Oscar_page_peintures%20-%20U
K.html), paying tribute to the legacy of Niemeyer in France.[62] In 2010 the Brasilia Jubilee
Commission chose Benoit's works for an exhibition that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the
city.[63] The exhibition – Brasilia. Flesh and Soul (http://jacquesbenoit.com/Brasilia_page_peinture

s%20-%20UK.html) – displayed 27 canvas divided into three series, all of them inspired by the
architectural landscape of Brasilia and the history of its construction.
Shortly before Niemeyer's death in 2012, artist Sarah Morris filmed Niemeyer in his office for her
2012 film Rio.[64]
In 2013, soon after Niemeyer’s death, the Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra[65] and four other
painters paid their tribute to the architect with a gigantic mural, covering the entire side of a
skyscraper at Paulista Avenue in São Paulo's financial district.[66] The artwork is inspired by
Niemeyer's architecture, his love of concrete and Le Corbusier.
Niemeyer is featured in the film Urbanized discussing his design process and architectural
philosophy.
During the homage to Oscar Niemeyer on December 15, 2012 (it would have been his 105th
birthday),[67] the citizens movement released "Sentimiento Niemeyer" at the Centro Niemeyer in
Spain.[68] The verses were written by different people through a Facebook event and put together by
musicians. The song was released under a Creative Commons license (attribution, non-profit, no-
variations) so that other artists who shared the feeling around the world could make their own cover
of the song, keeping the melody and translating the lyrics.[69]
In July 2015 the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MoT) organized the first major retrospective
of Niemeyer in Japan, curated by Yuko Hasegawa in collaboration with Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue
Nishizawa from SANAA.[70]
Decorations and awards

Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1949)
Medal of the Order of Merit of Labour (Brazil, 1959)
International Lenin Peace Prize (1963)
Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale (Italy, 1963)
Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects (1963)
Honorary Member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters (USA, 1964)
Premio Benito Juarez on the occasion of the centennial of the Mexican Revolution (1964)
Médaille Joliot-Curie (1965)
Piece for strings, brass, pianos by the Swiss avant-garde composer Hermann Meier dedicated to
Niemeyer (1967)
Knight of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur) (France, 1970)
Commander of the Order of Prince Henry (Portugal, March 3, 1975)
Lorenzo il Magnifico Prize of the Accademia Internazionale Medicea (Italy, 1980)
Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) (France, 1982)
Honorary Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1983)
Pritzker Prize for Architecture (1988) (with Gordon Bunshaft)
Prince of Asturias Award (1989)
Honorary Doctor of the University of Brasília (1989)
Chico Mendes Resistance Medal (1989)
Gold Medal of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Barcelona (1990)
Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, bestowed by Pope John Paul II (1990)
Grand Cross of the Order of Saint James of the Sword (Portugal, November 26, 1994)
Honorary doctorate from the University of São Paulo (1995)
Doctor Honoris Causa from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1995)
Saurí Order, 1st class (Dominican Republic, 1996)
Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, VI International Architecture Exhibition (Italy, 1996)
Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1998)
Order of Solidarity (Cuba, 2001)
Darcy Ribeiro Medal of Merit (State Board of Education of the State of Rio de Janeiro, 2001)
Unesco Award in the category of Culture (2001)
Grand Officer of the Order of Merit Teaching and Cultural Gabriela Mistral (Ministry of Education
of Chile, 2001)
"20th century architect" (Superior Council of the Institute of Architects of Brazil, 2001)
Konex Award (Argentina, 2002)
Praemium Imperiale (Japan, 2004)
Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (2005)
Patron of Brazilian architecture, declared by Law No. 11,117, of May 18, 2005
Order of Cultural Merit (Brazil, 2007)
Commander of the Legion of Honour (Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur) (France, 2007)
Order of Friendship (Russia, 2007)
Medal Oscar Niemeyer's Communist Party Marxist-Leninist (2007)
ALBA Arts Award (Venezuela, 2008), Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua [78]
Order of Arts and Letters of Spain (November 6, 2009)
Doctor Honoris Causa of the Technical University of Lisbon (2009)
See also
List of Oscar Niemeyer works
References
1. Magarrey, Paige (December 8, 2007) Niemeyer's Century (https://web.archive.org/web/20110102
100257/http://www.azuremagazine.com/newsviews/blog_content.php?id=728). Azure
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at the Wayback Machine(in Portuguese)
3. Salvaing, Matthieu (2002) Oscar Niemeyer. Assouline Publishing. ISBN 2843233445
4. Niemeyer 2000, pp. 62, 169, 170
5. William J. R. Curtis in "Oscar Niemeyer: architects and critics pay tribute" (https://www.theguardia
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8. Botey, Joseph M. (1996) Oscar Niemeyer. Gustavo Gili. ISBN 8425215765
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heguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/dec/06/oscar-niemeyer-obituary). the Guardian.
12. Papadaki, Stamo (2012) The Work of Oscar Niemeyer. Literary Licensing, LLC.
ISBN 1258367645. p. 19
13. Comas, Carlos Eduardo (2005) "Niemeyer's Casino and the Misdeeds of Brazilian Architecture",
pp. 169–188 in Critical Studies, Transculturation. Cities, Spaces and Architectures in Latin
America. Felipe Hernández, Mark Millington and Iain Borden (eds.)
14. Matoso, Danilo (2008) Da Matéria à Invenção: As Obras de Oscar Niemeyer em Minas Gerais
(1938–1954) (http://bd.camara.gov.br/bd/handle/bdcamara/9914). ISBN 978-85-736-5534-6
15. Fabiano Lemes de Oliveira. Sigfried Giedion e o caso Brasileiro: uma aproximação
hirtoriográfica. (http://www.docomomo.org.br/seminario%206%20pdfs/Fabiano%20Lemes%20d
e%20Oliveira.pdf), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Retrieved December 8, 2012
16. INEPAC. Guia de Bens Tombados (http://www.inepac.rj.gov.br/modules.php?name=Guia&file=co
nsulta_detalhe_bem&idbem=275) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20130316023728/http://
www.inepac.rj.gov.br/modules.php?name=Guia) March 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
17. Philippou, Styliane (2008) Oscar Niemeyer: Curves of Irreverence. Yale University Press.
ISBN 0300120389. p. 129
18. Christopher Hall: "The Mark of a Master" (http://www.architecturaldigest.com/decor/archive/unbuil
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19. (c. 1949). "Museum exhibits architectural models and plans, 'from Le Corbusier to Niemeyer' (http
s://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2727?locale=en). Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Retrieved June 27, 2018
20. Bergdoll, Barry. (Summer 2010). The synthesis of arts and MoMa. Docomomo, 42, pp. 110-13.
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21. Hitchcock, Henry-Russell (essay). (1948). Painting toward architecture. The Miller Company:
Meriden, CT. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
22. Preece, R. J. (2017)."Rethinking 'Painting toward architecture' (1947-52)" (https://www.artdesignc
afe.com/painting-toward-architecture-miller-co-exhibition). artdesigncafe.com / Sculpture
magazine. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
23. Preece, R. J. (December 31, 2017). "Oscar Niemeyer / Roberto Burle Marx. Tremaine House &
Painting toward architecture" (https://www.artdesigncafe.com/tremaine-house-niemeyer-burle-mar
x-design-for-a-garden). artdesigncafe. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
24. Publicação de The Work of Oscar Niemeyer (http://www.niemeyer.org.br) Archived (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20110222031241/http://www.niemeyer.org.br/) February 22, 2011, at the Wayback
Machine. Retrieved December 8, 2012
25. Underwood, David, Oscar Niemeyer and the Architecture of Brazil, Rizzoli, New York, 1994 p. 15
26. Bruand, Yves (1997) Arquitetura Contemporânea no Brasil. Editora Perspectiva.
ISBN 8527301148
27. Styliane Philippou. Challenging the Hierarchies of the City: Oscar Niemeyer's Mid-Twentieth-
Century Residential Buildings. (http://www.tudelft.nl/live/binaries/2e2a5b07-3f77-4d71-b1d1-33a8
97e794aa/doc/Conference%20paper%20Philippou.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20
101128205747/http://www.tudelft.nl/live/binaries/2e2a5b07-3f77-4d71-b1d1-33a897e794aa/doc/C
onference%20paper%20Philippou.pdf) November 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved
December 8, 2012
28. Hess, Alan and Weintraub, Alan (2006) Oscar Niemeyer Houses. Rizzoli. ISBN 0847827984
29. Maciel, Fabiano (2010). Oscar Niemeyer: A Vida é um Sopro (http://www.archdaily.com.br/br/01-8
5169/cinema-e-arquitetura-documentario-oscar-niemeyer-a-vida-e-um-sopro)
30. Hitchcock, Henry-Russell (1955) Latin American Architecture Since 1945 (New York Museum of
Modern Art, Exhibition Catalogue)
31. MAX BILL E A ARQUITETURA CONTEMPORÂNEA. Arquitetura e Engenharia. n. 26 . p.18
32. Lucio Costa on Flavio Aquino's MAX BILL CRITICA A NOSSA MODERNA ARQUITETURA.
13th/06/1953
33. NIEMEYER, Oscar. Depoimento. in MÓDULO, n. 9, p.3, 1958
34. Castroviejo Ribeiro, Alessandro José; Carrilho, Marcos José and Bárbaro Del Negro, Paulo
Sérgio. Bolsistas: Mara Lucia da Silva e Marina Rodrigues Amado. Edifício e galeria Califórnia: o
desenho e a cidade (http://www.docomomo.org.br/seminario%207%20pdfs/038.pdf)
35. Danilo Matoso Macedo. Arquitetura em Transição: interpretação do trabalho de Oscar Niemeyer
a partir de seu discurso – 1955–1962 (http://danilo.arq.br/textos/arquitetura-em-transicao-interpre
tacao-do-trabalho-de-oscar-niemeyer-a-partir-de-seu-discurso-1955-1962/)
36. Oscar Niemeyer. Minha Experiência em Brasília
37. Niemeyer 2000, p. 70.
38. FERNANDES, LUIZ GUSTAVO SOBRAL; MARTINS, Carlos Alberto Ferreira . Interpretando a
historiografia da Arquitetura Moderna Brasileira: Brasília e monografias entre 1959 e 1973.
DOCOMOMO BRASIL, v. 2, p. 50-58, 2018.
39. Biography Oscar Niemeyer, architect (http://www.floornature.com/articoli/articolo.php?id=16&sez=
6&lang=en). Floornature.com. Retrieved on June 30, 2015.
40. "In search of... Oscar Niemeyer in Brazil" (https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/in-searc
h-of-oscar-niemeyer-in-brazil-586075.html). The Independent. London. July 6, 2003. Retrieved
May 20, 2010.
41. Memorial dos Povos Indigenas (http://www.fredcamper.com/R/Brazil/Brasilia.html#Memorial).
Fredcamper.com. Retrieved on June 30, 2015.
42. Catedral Militar, Igreja de N.S. da Paz (http://www.fredcamper.com/R/Brazil/Brasilia.html#Catedra
l). Fredcamper.com. Retrieved on June 30, 2015.
43. President Putin's executive order awarding Niemeyer the Order of Friendship (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20120525065051/http://document.kremlin.ru/doc.asp?ID=042298). kremlin.ru
44. Hooper, John (December 17, 2010). "Brussels demands answers as Italy's new €16m concert
hall stays silent" (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/17/italian-concert-hall-european-c
ouncil). The Guardian (London). Retrieved August 26, 2012.
45. Brazilian architect Niemeyer released from hospital (http://newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/
10/30/24--Brazilian-architect-Niemeyer-released-from-hospital-.html) – News Track India.
Published October 30, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
46. "Reports: 101-yr-old Brazil architect back at work" (https://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticl
e/8820774). The Guardian (London). November 21, 2009. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
47. Menasce, Márcio (June 7, 2012). "Anna Maria Niemeyer (1929–2012) – Galerista e parceira do
pai, Oscar" (http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/1101462-anna-maria-niemeyer-1929-2012---g
alerista-e-parceira-do-pai-oscar.shtml). Folha de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). Retrieved
December 8, 2012.
48. Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, dies at 104 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-
20621265). BBC. Published December 6, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
49. Ouroussoff, Nicolai (2012). Oscar Niemeyer, Architect Who Gave Brasília Its Flair, Dies at 104 (ht
tps://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/world/americas/oscar-niemeyer-modernist-architect-of-brasilia
-dies-at-104.html?pagewanted=all). The New York Times. Published December 5, 2012.
Retrieved December 6, 2012.
50. Obituary: Oscar Niemeyer (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17935688) – BBC
News (Latin America & Caribbean). Published December 6, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
51. Bernstein, Adam (2012). Oscar Niemeyer dies; famed Brazilian architect was 104 (https://www.w
ashingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/oscar-niemeyer-dies-famed-brazilian-architect-was-104/2012/
12/05/9729905e-c5db-11df-94e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.html) – Washington Post Obituaries.
Published December 6, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
52. Walker, Clive (November 20, 2006). "Niemeyer finds love at 98 with marriage to 60-year-old
secretary" (http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/niemeyer-finds-love-at-98-with-marriage-to-60
-year-old-secretary/577962.article). The Architects' Journal. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
53. OSCAR NIEMEYER (http://www.medesignmag.com/people/149/oscar-niemeyer/) Archived (http

s://web.archive.org/web/20121106172043/http://www.medesignmag.com/people/149/oscar-nieme
yer) November 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine – ME design. Published July 8, 2008. Retrieved
December 6, 2012.
54. Godfrey, Peter (April 18, 2010). "Swerve with verve: Oscar Niemeyer, the architect who
eradicated the straight line" (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/swerv
e-with-verve-oscar-niemeyer-the-architect-who-eradicated-the-straight-line-1944761.html). The
Independent (London). Retrieved July 13, 2012.
55. Oscar Niemeyer Interview. Niemeyer e o PCB. (http://www.niemeyer.org.br) Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20110222031241/http://www.niemeyer.org.br/) February 22, 2011, at the
Wayback Machine
56. Glancey, Jonathan (2007). 'I pick up my pen. A building appears' (https://www.theguardian.com/ar
tanddesign/2007/aug/01/architecture) – The Guardian. Published August 1, 2007. Retrieved
December 6, 2012.
57. Marcos Sá Corrêa. Oscar Niemeyer. Ediouro 2005
58. Nicolai Ouroussoff (December 26, 2007). "Even if His Own Work Isn't Broken, a Brazilian
Architect Fixes It" (https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/arts/design/26niem.html). The New York
Times. Retrieved December 26, 2007.
59. About Sambódromo (http://www.sambadrome.com/rio-carnival-sambodromo/).
Sambadrome.com. Retrieved on June 30, 2015.
60. Vila Isabel homenageia Niemeyer – Cultura – Estadão (http://www.estadao.com.br/arquivo/arteel
azer/2003/not20030107p815.htm). Estadao.com.br (June 24, 2015). Retrieved on 2015-06-30.
61. Torres Assumpção, Mauricio (April 4, 2012), "The man who painted Niemeyer" (http://www.jacque
sbenoit.com/Images/presse/Valor-Economico-Page-UK-pour-web.jpg), and interview for "Valor
Economico
62. Birck, Danielle (January 2007) Trois traces d'Oscar (http://www.jacquesbenoit.com/Images/TROI
S%20TRACES%20D'OSCAR_BIRCK_Layout%20UK.pdf). jacquesbenoit.com
63. BrasĂlia de Corpo e Alma no EspaĂ§o Renato Russo (http://www.jornaldebrasilia.com.br/noticia
s/cidades/306539/brasilia-de-corpo-e-alma-no-espaco-renato-russo/). Jornaldebrasilia.com.br
(October 27, 2010). Retrieved on 2015-06-30.
64. Sarah Morris Bye Bye Brazil (http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/sarah_morris_bye_bye_brazil_ber
mondsey_2013/). White Cube (September 29, 2013). Retrieved on 2015-06-30.
65. for the mural and his work in general see Street artist Eduardo Kobra's tribute to Oscar Niemeyer
(http://eduardokobra.com/)
66. Kobra Pays Honor to Architect Niemeyer in São Paulo | Jaime Rojo & Steven Harrington (http://w
ww.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/eduardo-kobra-pays-honor-to-oscar-niemeye
r_b_2707936.html). The Huffington Post (February 18, 2013). Retrieved on 2015-06-30.
67. J. González (December 16, 2012). "A hymn for the Niemeyer" (http://www.elcomercio.es/v/20121
216/aviles/niemeyer-tiene-himno-20121216.html). Avilés.: Elcomercio.es.
68. " "Sentimiento Niemeyer" in AULA_de_INFANTIL_de Isa" (http://blog.educastur.es/auladeinfantil/
2012/12/16/cancion-sentimiento-niemeyer-centro-niemeyer_aviles_asturias). Blog.educastur.es.
December 16, 2012.
69. La canción homenaje "Sentimiento Niemeyer" supera las 1000 visitas en YouTube (http://www.as
turiasmundial.com/noticia/39145/cancion-homenaje-sentimiento-niemeyer-supera-1000-visitas-en
-youtube/). Asturiasmundial.com (February 24, 2013). Retrieved on 2015-06-30.
70. "The Man Who Built Brasilia" (http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2015/10/07/oscar_niemeye
r_the_man_who_built_brasilia.html). www.domusweb.it.
Further reading
Niemeyer, Oscar (2000). The Curves of Time: The Memoirs of Oscar Niemeyer. London:
Phaidon. ISBN 0714840076.
Emery, Marc (1983). Furniture by Architects. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
Oscar Niemeyer, un architecte engagé dans le siècle (dir. Marc-Henri Wajnberg, 2001, 60
minutes)
A Vida É Um Sopro ("Life Is a Breath Of Air") (dir. Fabiano Maciel, 2007)
External links
Official website (http://www.niemeyer.org.br)
May 2006 Interview with Niemeyer, age 98, in Metropolis Magazine (https://web.archive.org/web/
20060821004509/http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1972)
Pritzker Prize 1988 (https://web.archive.org/web/20090831042612/http://www.pritzkerprize.com/la
ureates/1988_1/index.html)
Niemeyer's Brasilia Photo Gallery: Year of Brazil at Queens College, CUNY (http://brazil.qc.cuny.
edu/gallery/brasilia-2/)
Niemeyer's Brasilia: A Photographic Tribute (2009) (http://www.princeton.edu/~choueiri/brasilia/sli
des/start.html)
Tribute to Oscar Niemeyer by Sancar Seckiner (https://vimeo.com/56438521)
Oscar Niemeyer Architecture on Google Maps (http://www.arti-fact.com/architect/map/106/Oscar-
Niemeyer)
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13/06/2020 Oscar Niemeyer - Wikipedia

Both lauded and criticized for being a "sculptor of

Early life and education

He pursued his passion at the National School of Fine Arts in Rio de

After graduating, he worked in his father's typography house. Even though

In 1936, at 29, Lúcio Costa was appointed by Education Minister Gustavo

revolutionized Corbusian brises-soleil, made adjustable and related to

1939 New York World's Fair

In 1940, at 33, Niemeyer met Juscelino Kubitschek, who was at

The Saint Francis of Assisi church is considered the masterpiece

1940s and 1950s

In 1947, Niemeyer returned to New York City to integrate the

Tremaine House (unbuilt)

Niemeyer's formal creativity has been compared to that of

Although it was badly received and to an

In 1955, at 48, Niemeyer designed the Museum of Modern Art in

Niemeyer organized a competition for the lay-out of Brasília, the

In the space of a few months, Niemeyer designed residential,

Behind the construction of Brasília lay a monumental campaign

The project adopted a socialist ideology: in Brasília all the apartments

Niemeyer and his contribution to the construction of Brasília are

In 1964, at 57, after being invited by Abba Hushi, the mayor of

Palácio do Planalto, the official

Niemeyer's politics cost him during the military dictatorship. His

Later life and death

The Niterói Contemporary Art Oscar Niemeyer Museum

Brazilian National Museum, Estação Cabo Branco, João

Natal City Park Tower, Natal,

Oscar Niemeyer with Polish

Niemeyer had a left-wing political ideology. In 1945, many communist

city.[63] The exhibition – Brasilia. Flesh and Soul (http://jacquesbenoit.com/Brasilia_page_peinture

Decorations and awards

53. OSCAR NIEMEYER (http://www.medesignmag.com/people/149/oscar-niemeyer/) Archived (http

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oscar_Niemeyer&oldid=956303642"

This page was last edited on 12 May 2020, at 16:36 (UTC).

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