Ben Tavener of the Rio Times is reporting that legendary Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer has died. Mr. Niemeyer designed many of the most prominent government buildings in Brasília and the UN Headquarters in New York City. Tavener reports:
“Niemeyer rose to international fame in the 1960s as the new futuristic capital city was unveiled to the nation. The hallmark architectural swoops he used in his designs were, by his own admission, inspired by the “free-flowing sensual curves” of Brazilian women.
An ardent communist and atheist, he fled Brazil during the military dictatorship of the 1970s and 1980s, and continued to build on his career in France. His innovative use of reinforced concrete and rejection of conventional angled designs earned him both admirers and critics.
Some of his most prominent works in Brazil include top government palaces and buildings and the hyperboloid Cathedral of Brasília, the spaceship-like Contemporary Art Museum in Niterói and the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba with its eye-shaped gallery that emerges from water.”
Mr. Niemeyer was widowed at 2004 at the age of 93 after 76 years of marriage and remarried at age 99. His body lay in state at the presidential palace on Thursday. Mr. Niemeyer’s body will be returned to Rio’s Palácio da Cidade in Botafogo for a private ceremony with friends and family on Frida, before being opened to the public. His funeral is expected to take place on Friday afternoon in Botafogo. He was 104.
Read more at the Rio Times.
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