This past week saw the passing away of the brilliant
Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer. He was most certainly one of the most
influential architects and brilliant design visionaries of the 20th century.
I certainly believe more and more that he could very possibly have been the most influential and most brilliant architect of the mid- to late-20th century. This I will attempt to prove with a showing of some of his best works in my next post after this one.
As quoted in Wikipedia, it is well known that Niemeyer was "most famous for his use of abstract forms and curves that characterize most of his works, and wrote in his memoirs:
I am not attracted to straight angles or to the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved Universe of Einstein. "
He was also a committed Marxist well into his old age, which explains why he had to go into exile in Paris during the hideous fascist dictatorship that gripped Brazil from 1964. He only returned to Brazil in the 1980s once the dictatorship had been replaced by a (type of) democracy in his home country.
Not only was he a design genius, but clearly a man of conscience too. He was also an atheist his entire life, marvelling rather in the wonders of the Universe and the human mind and immense capacity and ability, as any true humanist who doesn't believe in fairytale religiosity would believe.
Even more commendable was Niemeyer's incredible longevity. Because he died this week at the ripe old age of 104.
Photo courtesy of The Guardian UK
That's correct - 104.
He had been recently asked to what he attributed his admirable long life and tremendous vitality, to which he simply replied was his never-die, and ultimately optimistic outlook on everything in life.
His simple philosophy in life does make a likely mirror to his relentlessly modernist, always forward-looking and, yes, undeniably optimistic design aesthetic.
A quiet revolutionary who revolutionized the world of architecture with an eye for design that was anything but quiet, and everything that uplifted the soul and made it soar.
An atheist who may have been, but Oscar Niemeyer was surely one of the most spiritually profound architects and artists of the modern era.
Filho do Brasil, inspiraรงao de nos todos...obrigado, Snr. Niemeyer.
R.I.P.
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