When Gropius met Niemeyer
Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil’s great modern architect, had little time for the Bauhaus. Or did he?
Oscar Niemeyer's House by Dmitri KesselLIFE Photo Collection
Two star architects meet. One shows the other one his house, and the other one says, “Yes, yes, it’s very nice, but...”
Oscar Niemeyer's House by Dmitri KesselLIFE Photo Collection
No joke. When Walter Gropius, founder of the world-famous Bauhaus, took a look around the house of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in 1953, he really did find something to moan about.
“But it can’t go into series production,“ carped the German.
Oscar Niemeyer's House by Dmitri KesselLIFE Photo Collection
The Brazilian nearly hit the roof at that. Because the Casa das Canoas in São Conrado, Rio de Janeiro, completed in 1951 and fitting snugly with its many curves into the unevenness of the ground, naturally had to be a bespoke production!
By Frank ScherschelLIFE Photo Collection
The Brazilian was in any case no friend of series production. He had just built the UN headquarters in New York with Le Corbusier and would soon be designing the government buildings for the capital, Brasília, and derogatively called the Bauhaus, which produced prototypes for the masses with exactly series production in mind, a “paradise for mediocrity”. Everything, according to him, repeated itself and monotonously looked the same. “If you worry about the function,“ said Niemeyer, "the result will suck.”
Walter Gropius in front of his home in Dessau (1926/27) by unknownBauhaus Dessau Foundation
Gropius and Niemeyer were very different.
Studio Building (1925-26), architect: Walter Gropius, view from East, 2018 (2018) by Walter Gropius (Architecture) and Yakob Israel Willmington-Lu (Photo)Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
While the one liked to ground the concrete in practical cubes ...
Bra Silia (1961) by Dmitri KesselLIFE Photo Collection
... it seduced the other to flights of fancy with his filigree buildings.
Kandinsky/Klee Master House (1925-26), architect: Walter Gropius, 2018 (2018) by Walter Gropius (Architecture) and Yakob Israel Willmington-Lu (Photo)Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
While the one loved clear lines and strict geometric forms ...
Bra Silia (1961) by Dmitri KesselLIFE Photo Collection
... the other was attracted by “the soft and sensuous curves of the mountains of my country, the winding curves of our rivers, the clouds in the sky and the beautiful female body”.
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“Form follows function”, preached the one ...
Bra Silia (1961) by Dmitri KesselLIFE Photo Collection
... “Form follows feminine”, preached the other.
Bra Silia (1961) by Dmitri KesselLIFE Photo Collection
But all the same, these two uncrowned kings of architecture ...
... had a lot in common too.
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You just have to look at Niemeyer’s buildings on the Esplanada dos Ministérios in Brasília. If it doesn’t remind you of Bauhaus ...
Brasilia (1961-04) by Dmitri KesselLIFE Photo Collection
The abstract forms in the Brazilian’s architecture are pretty bauhauslike too.
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On the other hand, this work here by Gropius – couldn’t this be by Niemeyer as well?
Bra Silia (1961) by Dmitri KesselLIFE Photo Collection
And of course – they were both ...
Bauhaus Building (1925-26), architect: Walter Gropius, view from South West, 2018 (2018) by Walter Gropius (Architecture) and Yakob Israel Willmington-Lu (Photo)Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
... revolutionaries in construction!
By Michael RougierLIFE Photo Collection
Four years after their meeting in Rio, Niemeyer and Gropius were to come closer, architecturally speaking, in Berlin. For the International Building Exhibition in 1957 they both built houses, alongside other architects like Arne Jacobsen, Max Taut and Egon Eiermann. Their houses are just a few steps away from each other.
Well, who built what?
Gropius or Niemeyer?
By Michael RougierLIFE Photo Collection
Niemeyer or Gropius?
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The riddle's solution: This is the house of Niemeyer.
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And here the house of Gropius.
Text / Concept / Realisation: Cornelia Jeske
Editing: Astrid Alexander, Cornelia Jeske
Translation: Catherine Hales, Stephan Schmidt
© Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau
www.bauhaus-dessau.de
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