100 years of Oscar Niemeyer

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100 Years of Oscar Niemeyer Life with a Double Brasilia: Reason as Enemy Sartre, Marx and the Mask of Optimism realization: Headquarters of the French Communist Party (1972)

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Great visions and their straightforward realization, pronounced idealism and hidden fears. The creator of the city of Brasilia, collaborator of Le Corbusier, persistent humanist, unwavering communist, and fighter for a better world, adored author and exile, life lover tormented by distressing feelings in moments of solitude, a legend and above all, still active architect Oscar Ribeiro Almeida de Niemeyer Soares will celebrate his 100th birthday on December 15. Congratulations!

Tracking the close ties between architecture and politics is always tricky. However, in Niemeyer's case, it is almost unavoidable.

The 1930s - After studying architecture at the School of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, where in 1931, Lucio Costa, who is only five years older, becomes the director, Niemeyer works from 1935 in Costa's office. Here he participates, for example, in the project for the Ministry of Education and Health. During this time, he also meets Gustavo Capanema in Rio, and above all, Le Corbusier. Brazil is politically led during these years by Getúlio Vargas, a man whose rise was propelled by the revolution against the so-called coffee presidents, but who becomes so enamored with power that by 1937, he fully controls the country and establishes a highly centralized administration known as Estado Novo (New State).
In 1939, Niemeyer goes with the team that designed the Brazilian pavilion to the World Fair in New York, and they receive the first awards (New York City Medal).

The 1940s - Juscelino Kubitschek (it is certainly unnecessary to point out the Czech roots of this later Brazilian president), then "only" as the mayor of Belo Horizonte, commissions the young architect several buildings around Pampulha Lake. In 1945, Vargas is overthrown by the military, and Oscar joins the Communist Party. The following year, when Brazil becomes a republic, Niemeyer designs the Banco Boavista in Rio. He travels to New York again, this time regarding the United Nations headquarters project. His design is selected as the best, and once again, recognition follows: honorary membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The 1950s - He heads to Europe: As one of fifteen selected world architects, he builds in the residential district of Hansaviertel in Berlin. Besides Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union, he also visits Czechoslovakia (1954). In Venezuela, he builds the Museum of Modern Art and is involved in the founding of the Brazilian magazine Módulo. Between 1955-1961, it is a great time for Juscelino Kubitschek - and not only him! A year after he is elected president, Kubitschek gives Niemeyer almost unprecedented freedom in planning the new capital: he becomes the head of the government construction office Novacap, as well as a member of the jury for selecting the urban plan. In just four years (1957-1960), Niemeyer builds the current landmarks of Brasilia on a greenfield site: among others, the presidential residence, the Palácio Alvorada, the National Congress complex, the presidential office buildings, Palácio do Planalto, and the Supreme Federal Court. Similar to contemporary Le Corbusier buildings, the houses in Brasilia completely break away from the rectangular international style that has so far dominated the architectural scene and which Niemeyer views with great disdain, showcasing massive curved lines and plastic forms. There is unbounded enthusiasm, as well as uncompromising criticism.

The 1960s - International renown brings a number of contracts and various awards: he becomes the coordinator of the architecture school at the University of Brasilia, designs in Lebanon, receives the Lenin Prize, and is granted honorary membership of the American Institute of Architects. However, politics intervenes again: a military coup plunges Brazil into dictatorship. The Módulo magazine is banned, and Niemeyer leaves the university in protest against the educational system established by the new regime. He departs for France to open his exhibition, receives numerous honors, and begins designing in Africa (University of Algiers) and Europe (Mondadori Publishing in Milan); and especially the headquarters of the Communist Party in Paris. Due to political pressure in his homeland, he settles permanently in the French capital in 1967. The decade-long construction of the cathedral in Brasilia symbolically continues without the author's supervision (1959-1970).

The 1970s - The prototype of a chair marks his first involvement in industrial design. He establishes an office on the Champs Elysées and handles numerous commissions. In 1975, he designs the FATA office building in Turin. In the same year, the Módulo magazine begins to be published again in Rio, and Niemeyer becomes a founding member and the first president of Centro Brasil Democrático. The dictatorship falls, and a general amnesty (1979) restores democratic rights in Brazil; many exiles return. The Centre Georges Pompidou holds a retrospective exhibition of Niemeyer's work, which later travels to Venice and Florence.

The 1980s - Oscar designs the Sambódromo promenade used in Rio for carnival parades; the local Museum of Modern Art organizes the exhibition "From Aleijadinha to Niemeyer," which subsequently travels to New York, as well as to the famous Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. In 1985, general elections are held in Brazil, and Niemeyer resumes work on projects for the capital. He designs the Latin America Memorial in São Paulo and the headquarters of the newspaper L'Humanité in France. Exhibitions of his work are held in Milan, Padova, and Bologna. In 1988, Brazil adopts a new democratic constitution, and Oscar Niemeyer receives the Pritzker Prize. However, this decade brings even more awards - among others, honorary membership from the British RIBA. Brasilia is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the most significant urban and architectural ensemble of the 20th century.

The 1990s - He leaves the Brazilian Communist Party, but not his firmly leftist beliefs. His career is far from over - great projects come again: Niemeyer designs the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niterói near Rio and the Parliament of Latin America in São Paulo. He publishes works such as "Conversa de arquiteto," "Meu sósia e eu," and "Museo de Arte Contemporanea." In the year of his ninetieth birthday, he has at least five major projects sketched out: among them the Museum of Modern Art in Brasilia or the headquarters of TECNEC. The following years continue in the same way. Among many others, he designs a theater for São Paulo, a cultural quarter for the capital, or a monument to the discovery of Brazil (São Paulo). In this decade, the creator receives honors from many institutions - the Vatican, for example, knights him as a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.

In the New Millennium - A comprehensive exhibition of Niemeyer's work is held at his own realization - the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rio. In 2003, he is chosen as the author of the summer pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery in London. On the architect's 99th birthday, Brazil launches official celebrations for his 100th anniversary, during which two new buildings designed according to the Master’s project - a museum and a national library - are opened in the capital. Both are integrated into a set of his earlier realizations. And both assert themselves with the same generosity of mass as their younger sisters. Other works are in progress. In April 2007, a 90-minute documentary "Oscar Niemeyer: Life is a Breeze" premieres. Fabiano Maciel, who is the author of the script and also the director of the film, filmed it over a ten-year period. Oscar Niemeyer has his office in Rio de Janeiro on Avenida Atlantica, and from the twentieth floor, a view of the ocean opens through a large strip window. The planned celebrations for the 100th birthday of the most significant Brazilian, whose roots - as befits a member of this nation - branch and grow far beyond the borders of the South American state (ancestors of Portuguese, Arab, and Jewish-German origin), are expected to be grand.

/ using published information ```