Accession Number
2008/2.253

Title
Niemeyer's Fancy

Artist(s)
Lucio Pozzi

Object Creation Date
1993

Medium & Support
watercolor on paper

Dimensions
12 1/4 x 18 1/8 in. (31 x 46 cm)

Credit Line
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the Nation Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute for Museum and Library Services

Label copy
Lucio Pozzi
United States, born 1935
Niemeyer’s Fancy
1993
Paper on paper
2008/2.253

Subject matter
Abstract, organic, linear drawing. The title most likely refers to Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who is considered one of the most important names in international modern architecture. He was a pioneer in exploring the formal possibilities of reinforced concrete solely for their aesthetic impact. Among his best-known works there are the many public buildings he designed for the city of Brasília, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the United Nations Headquarters in New York City (with others). As Niemeyer described his aesthetic project: “Not the straight angle that attracts me, nor straight, hard, inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve, the curves that find in the mountains of my country, in the course of its winding rivers, the sea waves, the body of the woman preferred. Curves is done throughout the universe, the universe of Einstein's curved.” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Niemeyer]
Going against the descriptiveness of the title, however, Pozzi has stated: “My painting doesn’t start from any premise other than the analysis of its own elementary characteristics. It does not include in its combination of elements outside premises such as mathematics, vegetation, primitive cultures, modern publicity, traditional symbolism, the esoteric or the occult. It is not at the service of anything, it doesn’t represent anything.” (cited in Bret Waller, Works from the Collection of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel exh. cat., University of Michigan Museum of Art)

Physical Description
A small, squat rectangle divided into two halves is centered on a large sheet of paper. The left half is orange at top, red at bottom, with swirling lines of tan and gray; the right half is orange at top, red at bottom, with swirling lines of blue and green. Both sides are dotted with black.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
abstract

Additional Object Classification(s)
Drawing

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
Abstract (fine arts style)
portraits