Figure Studies

Oscar NiemeyerWW-1999-138309

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

<p>Drawing was a love of Niemeyer from earlier on; as a child he would draw in the air with his finger. It was his love of drawing that led him to architecture and reinforces his belief, as written on this sketch, ”without drawing architecture does not exist,” that further emphasizes how integral drawing was to the development of his architecture. Niemeyer drew formal inspiration from organic forms in nature, but perhaps most prominent to his inspiration was his love of the female form. It is within the sinuous lines he drew in these figure studies that the formal relationship of the figure to organic shapes of Niemeyer’s buildings are prominent.</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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