Managing Oscar Niemeyer's dominant career

The name of Oscar Niemeyer is enshrined in Brazilian architecture, founded on the charisma associated with aesthetic creation. The management of his hegemonic position has taken on fairly clear outlines over the course of many decades. This article breaks down the elements of the strategy adopted, showing the elements of erudite culture mobilized by the rhetoric of celebration. It draws attention to impasses provoked by such a prolonged status of exceptionality within his circle of peers and the wider cultural field. The issues raised in the process include the protection of cultural heritage, legislation relating to public tenders, urban policy, the attribution of authorship, the relation between art and ideological policy, and even the coherence expected between the architecture practiced and the demands of the theoretical framework legitimizing it.

Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012); Modern architecture; Profession and career; Theory; Public patronage