0316 Almada Negreiros and Le Corbusier. Parallel Methodologies and Critical Reception

  • Simão Palmeirim (Author)
    IELT - Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1404-7665

    Simão Palmeirim is a researcher at IELT (NOVA-FCSH), the Institute for the Study of Literature and Tradition, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, of NOVA University Lisbon, where he explores the relations between theory and artistic practice in geometrical abstractionism in Portugal. His most recent research focuses on the work of Almada Negreiros, a modernist author and artist on which he has curated two exhibitions, at the Batalha Monastery and Lisbon’s National Museum of Ancient Art (2020–2021).

    After completing a BFA Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon (FBAUL; 2007), an MFA at Central Saint Martins, London (2009), and a PhD in Art Sciences at FBAUL (2016), he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra (2022–23/2023–24), and has been responsible for several scientific production and dissemination actions (conferences, editorial coordination, digital contents etc.).

    Palmeirim works as an independent curator and is currently a member of the Scientific Committee at CEDANSA (Almada Negreiros – Sarah Affonso Research and Documentation Center).

Identifiers (Article)

Abstract

The French-Swiss artist and architect Le Corbusier (1887–1965) created a system for architects and engineers to humanize the metric system, paving the way for a new form of architecture. The Portuguese artist José de Almada Negreiros (1893–1970) developed a multifaceted literary and artistic practice, progressively constructing a theory on the relation between art and geometry. There are parallels between these two artists in the way they devoted themselves to geometry and developed a theory with a universalistic approach that extended beyond their artistic production. Le Corbusier's international recognition has led to extensive research and dissemination of his works, whereas Almada's theoretical studies on geometry and art have only recently been the object of systematic research. Recently found documents in Almada's estate shed new light on the author's knowledge of Le Corbusier's Le Modulor, and his critical reception of such work. This paper reveals these documents and examines them in depth to identify both parallels and a structural, theoretical divergence between these authors.

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Language
en
Keywords
Almada Negreiros, Le Corbusier, Modernism, canon, geometry, art theory and practice