Church Sketches

Oscar NiemeyerWW-1999-138311

1999·Black marker on tracing paper·50 × 70 cm (19 11/16 × 27 9/16 in.)

<p>Despite his position as an atheist, Oscar Niemeyer designed several religious buildings over the course of his career. Three designs of religious buildings depicted here introduced non-traditional and innovative solutions. The un-built mosque in Algiers was designed to rest over the sea with bridge to connect to the shore; the Cathedral for Brasilia took the form of a stylized crown of thorns; and the parabolic structure that formed the church of St. Francis Assisi in Minas Gerais received much criticism for its similarity to a bomb shelter—while construction completed in 1942 it was not until 1959 that the church was consecrated.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1999
Medium: Black marker on tracing paper
Dimensions: 50 × 70 cm (19 11/16 × 27 9/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Oscar Niemeyer

Artist

Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Niemeyer was a Brazilian architect and designer whose modernist structures introduced curved, flowing forms derived from the landscape of Rio de Janeiro and the human body. Working primarily in reinforced concrete, he developed a vocabulary of bold sculptural volumes and open public spaces that rejected the orthogonal rigidity of early modernism. His political commitment to communism shaped both his aesthetic philosophy and his urban interventions, from residential complexes to monumental civic buildings. Niemeyer's formal innovations influenced postwar architecture across Latin America and Europe, establishing concrete as a material of expressive, humanistic possibility rather than mere utility.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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