An image is not available here yet.
View at the museum ↗Concrete Building Sketches
Oscar Niemeyer1999
- Attribution
- Oscar Niemeyer Brazilian, 1907-2012
- Medium
- Black marker on tracing paper
- Physical dimensions
- 50 × 70 cm (19 11/16 × 27 9/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Oscar Niemeyer, Fundaçao Oscar Niemeyer
Museum metadata is available under CC0. Image availability and rights are separate; consult the source record.
Source rights statement: Public-domain image eligibility not established by this export
View the museum record ↗From the museum
Scripted across this sketch, “the concrete suggests the curve, the free and different shape, to win the spaces. Architecture is invention,” reflects Niemeyer’s belief that the material of concrete was best synthesized through curvilinear form. Unlike his modernist contemporaries where right angles and straight lines defined their architecture, the work of Niemeyer embraced the inherent fluid nature of concrete that helped to shape his organic shapes and curvilinear forms. Furthermore, he believed that invention was a primary component of architecture—an opportunity to introduce something new to the public. It was through his unique approach and use of concrete that his new inventions in architecture were formed.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0