Concrete Building Sketches

Oscar NiemeyerWW-1999-138312

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

<p>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.</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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