Drawing by Alfredo Ceschiatti

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Enthusiastic drawing by the controversial sculptor from Minas Gerais Alfredo Ceschiatti, constant partner of Oscar Niemeyer.

• Drawing with dedication by sculptor Alfredo Ceschiatti.
• For D.Maria José or Zezé, as she was known.
• Date and location unknown.
• 26cm x 21cm.
• Excellent condition.
• Unique piece.

Alfredo Ceschiatti (1918 - 1989) was a sculptor from Minas Gerais, of international fame. He mainly explored the female figure, represented with pure, rounded shapes. His first trip to Italy, in 1938, was decisive in the admiration provoked by the works of Renaissance masters.

For me, Italy was a shock. (...) Basically, the one who taught me my entire life was Michelangelo, my greatest emotion .

This influence also explains the almost always monumental nature of his works. Each sculpture took him two to three months, from the first study to the casting, carried out by specialized helpers.

I think a lot about the place where it will be located, it is my starting point and I prefer large outdoor pieces, where there is more possibility to explore planes, shadows, lights. I would like to make even larger sculptures, like Christ the Redeemer, which I think is a beautiful work. I think that sculpture should not be a small decorative object. It has to have a more monumental meaning.

In fact, in 1943, Alfredo Ceschiatti began his collaboration with the revolutionary projects of Oscar Niemeyer, for whom the mayor of Belo Horizonte, Juscelino Kubitschek, commissioned the Lagoa da Pampulha complex. This was the beginning of the path that would make the architect an internationally renowned professional. Ceschiatti took over the award-winning bas-relief of the Pampulha Church, taking as inspiration the strength of the Sistine Chapel. He also sculpted "The Hug", a work of two women embracing, considered immoral by the traditional Minas Gerais family at the time: it was kept for many years until it was finally exposed in a garden in Pampulha.

In 1960, he finished The Three Armed Forces, the theme of the Monument to the Dead of the Second World War, in Rio de Janeiro, certainly becoming one of his best-known works.

The partnership with Oscar Niemeyer reached its peak with the creation of Brasília, where the sculptor's work accompanied that of the architect: "Bathistas" at the Palácio da Alvorada, "Justiça" at the Federal Supreme Court, "Two Sisters" at Itamarati or "Evangelists and Angels" in the Brasília Cathedral were works by Alfredo Ceschiatti.

Niemeyer said of him: “Like two good friends, we walk through life. I, absorbed by architecture, inventing shapes, playing with reinforced concrete; him, making his sculptures. These beautiful, baroque, curvy women. How I like to see them.”

"D.Maria José or Zezé, as she was known, was an Art educator, a pioneering teacher at UNB, moving away from it in the 70s, in solidarity with her colleagues persecuted by the dictatorship. She created the Escola Classe da 104 Sul and was a great friend of the artist, among others such as Oscar Niemeyer and Athos Bulcão." wrote a visitor to the Glórias collection, Claudio Pereira, who is grateful for this information.

The sculptor's documents are preserved mainly by the family and public institutions, this enthusiastic drawing is a rarity.