Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012) was the defining architect of Brazilian Modernism, known for sweeping concrete curves and sculptural volumes that gave Modernism a sensuality absent from its European origins. The catalogue holds 2 of his European works in Paris and Berlin.
The French Communist Party Headquarters (1980) in Paris places a buried auditorium beneath a white dome and suspends the office block on pilotis — a characteristically theatrical gesture. The Interbau Apartment House (1957) in Berlin's Hansaviertel, built for the 1957 International Building Exhibition, brought Niemeyer's flowing forms to the Cold War showcase — a V-shaped slab of apartments that introduced Brazilian Modernism to a European audience.
