Enthusiastic drawing by the controversial Minas Gerais sculptor 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.
- 26 cm x 21 cm.
- Excellent condition of conservation.
- Unique piece.
Alfredo Ceschiatti (1918 - 1989) was an internationally renowned sculptor from Minas Gerais. He mainly explored the female figure, represented with pure and rounded forms. His first trip to Italy, in 1938, was decisive in the admiration he provoked for the works of the Renaissance masters.
For me, Italy was a shock. (...) Deep down, the person who taught me my whole life was Michelangelo, my great emotion .
This influence also explains the almost always monumental character of his works. Each sculpture took him two to three months, from the first study to the casting, done by specialized assistants.
I think a lot about where it will be placed, that's my starting point, and I prefer large outdoor pieces, where there's more opportunity to explore planes, shadows, and lights. I'd like to make even larger sculptures, like Christ the Redeemer, which I think is a beautiful piece of work. I think sculpture shouldn't be a 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, from whom the mayor of Belo Horizonte, Juscelino Kubitschek, commissioned the Pampulha Lagoon complex. This was the beginning of the career that would make the architect an internationally renowned professional. Ceschiatti took charge of the award-winning bas-relief of the Pampulha Church, inspired by the power of the Sistine Chapel. He also sculpted "The Embrace", a work of two women embracing, considered immoral by the traditional Minas Gerais family of the time: it was kept for many years until it was finally exhibited 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: "Banhistas" at the Palácio da Alvorada, "Justiça" at the Supreme Federal Court, "Duas Irmãs" at Itamarati or "Evangelistas e Anjos" at the Cathedral of Brasília were works by Alfredo Ceschiatti.
Niemeyer said of him: “Like two good friends, we walk through life. I, absorbed in architecture, inventing forms, playing with reinforced concrete; he, making his sculptures. Those beautiful, baroque women, full of curves. How I like to see them.”
"D. Maria José or Zezé, as she was known, was an art educator, a pioneering professor at UNB, leaving it in the 1970s in solidarity with her colleagues who were 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, whom we thank for this information.
The sculptor's documents are preserved mainly by the family and public institutions, this enthusiastic drawing is a rarity.
