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Oscar Soares Filho Niemeyer (born December 15, 1907) is a Brazilian architect who is considered one of the most important names in international modern architecture. He was a pioneer in the exploration of the constructive possibilities of reinforced concrete.Although he was a defender of utilitarianism , his creations did not have the blocky coldness frequently criticized by post-moderns. His buildings have forms so dynamic and curves so sensual that many admirers say that he is more monumental as a sculptor than as an architect. Some critics consider the same to be a defect.
Oscar Niemeyer and his contribution to the construction of the city of Brasília is portrayed and somewhat parodied in the 1964 French movie L'homme de Rio (That Man From Rio), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.
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1 Early Life
Oscar Niemeyer was born in the city of Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro (meaning River of January in Portuguese) is the name of both a state and a city in southeastern Brazil. The city is famous for the hotel-lined tourist beaches Copacabana and Ipanema, for the giant statue of Jesus Christ the Redeemer ("Crist in 1907, on a street that later would receive the name of his grandfather Ribeiro de Almeida . He spent his youth as a typical young CariocaA Carioca is a person born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The word comes from the indigenous dialect of Tupi-Guarani, and means home oca of the white men cari . The Carioca refers to a dance. of the time: bohemianBohemians are inhabitants of Bohemia, Czech Republic. Bohemians is the more correct designation for Czechs used predominantly before 1918. It is quite an old name, derived from Latin and continually used between years 806 and 1918. Today, the word Bohemia and relatively unconcerned with his future. He concluded his secondary education at age 21. The same year, he married Annita Baldo, daughter of Italian immigrants from VeniceVenice ( Italian Venezia German Venedig , the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto, population 271,073 (2001). The city stretches across numerous small islands in a marshy lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater l. Marriage gave him a sense of responsibility: he decided to work and enter university.
He started to work in his father's typography house and entered the Escola de Belas Artes , from which he graduated as engineer architect in 1934Events January-April January 1 Alcatraz becomes a federal prison. January 7 First Flash Gordon comic strip is published. January 10 Execution of Marinus van der Lubbe January 24 Einstein visits White House January 26 The Apollo Theater opens in Harlem, Ne. At the time he had financial difficulties but decided to work without fee anyway, in the architecture studio of Lúcio Costa and Carlos Leão . He felt unsatisfied with the architecture that he saw in the streets and believed he could find a career there.
In 1945Events January January 5 The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland. January 7 British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge. January 12 World War II:, already an architect of some repute, he joined the Brazilian Communist Party. Niemeyer was a boy at the time of the Russian Revolution, a young idealist during the Second World War and lived most of his life during the Cold War. He was enthusiastically communist, a position which would cost him much later in his life. 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 visited the USSR, met with diverse socialist leaders and became a personal friend of some of them. Fidel Castro once said: "Niemeyer and I are the last Communists of this planet."
