Historical Figures Codexery

Oscar Niemeyer

Brazilian architect known for curves and Brasília's civic buildings.

Oscar Niemeyer

Unknown (Mondadori Publishers) · via Wikipedia: Oscar Niemeyer · Public domain

Oscar Niemeyer first saw the world on 15 December 1907 in Rio de Janeiro, and his life ended in that same city on 5 December 2012 when he was 104 years old.[1][2] Across 78 years of professional activity, Niemeyer created close to 600 architectural works; two examples are the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, finished in 1996, and the Oscar Niemeyer Museum, completed in 2002.[2]

Quick Facts

Born
15 December 1907
Birthplace
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Died
5 December 2012
Resting place
São João Batista Cemetery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Education
Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Children
Anna Maria
Significant projects
Museum of Modern Art in Caracas

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

After graduating, he worked in his father's typography house and then as a draftsman in the architecture studio of Lúcio Costa, Gregori Warchavchik and Carlos Leão.[3] His first finalized work was a nursery for the Obra do Berço, designed in 1937.[4] Niemeyer said his architecture really began with the Pampulha project in Minas Gerais, which he called the starting point of his freer, curved architecture.[4] He built the Canoas House for himself in 1953, which Henry-Russell Hitchcock called Niemeyer's most extreme lyrical statement.[5][6]

A Bachelor of Arts in architecture was awarded to Niemeyer in 1934 after he finished his studies at Rio de Janeiro's National School of Fine Arts.[1] By 1943 the Pampulha structures were finished, and they gained worldwide notice following the 'Brazil Builds' exhibition held at MoMA in New York that same year.[7] Stamo Papadaki's The Work of Oscar Niemeyer, the initial US-published monograph on the architect, came out in 1950.[8]

What the cited sources add

The Guardian obituary by Glancey reports that Niemeyer was born in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro, the son of a graphic artist and one of six children.[9] Glancey states that Niemeyer spent much time with Le Corbusier and was permanently influenced by his vision of a new architecture.[9] According to Glancey, Niemeyer transformed the Corbusier scheme for the ministry of education building into the serene, high-rise building that adorns Rio today.[9] The Guardian tribute by Curtis notes that Niemeyer belonged to the "second generation" of modern architects, inheriting and transforming the discoveries of pioneers such as Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe.[10]

Curtis writes that Niemeyer's architecture absorbed lessons from the past and from nature while being modern and progressive in tone.[10] Curtis also reports that Niemeyer was a communist who built houses for the rich, a cathedral, social housing and buildings for numerous state bureaucracies.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Oscar Niemeyer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salvaing, Matthieu (2002) Oscar Niemeyer. Assouline Publishing. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Oscar Niemeyer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: William J. R. Curtis in "Oscar Niemeyer: architects and critics pay tribute", in The Guardian, December 7, 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Oscar Niemeyer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Deckker, Zilah Quezado (2001) Brazil Built: The Architecture of Modern Brazil. Taylor & Francis. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Oscar Niemeyer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Papadaki, Stamo (2012) The Work of Oscar Niemeyer. Literary Licensing, LLC. . p. 19 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Oscar Niemeyer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hess, Alan and Weintraub, Alan (2006) Oscar Niemeyer Houses. Rizzoli. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Oscar Niemeyer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Maciel, Fabiano (2010). Oscar Niemeyer: A Vida é um Sopro; Hitchcock, Henry-Russell (1955) Latin American Architecture Since 1945 (New York Museum of Modern Art, Exhibition Catalogue) (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Oscar Niemeyer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Comas, Carlos Eduardo (2005) "Niemeyer's Casino and the Misdeeds of Brazilian Architecture", pp. 169–188 in Critical Studies, Transculturation. Cities, Spaces a (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Oscar Niemeyer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Publicação de The Work of Oscar Niemeyer . Retrieved December 8, 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Glancey, "Oscar Niemeyer obituary", the Guardian, December 6, 2012. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
  10. William J. R. Curtis in "Oscar Niemeyer: architects and critics pay tribute", in The Guardian, December 7, 2012. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Oscar Niemeyer (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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