Biography

Posted on by ialavilanovaartigas

                  João Batista Vilanova Artigas was born in Curitiba, Brasil, in 1915. In 1921, his father died, so the family decided to move to Teixeira Soares, where her mother started to work as a primary teacher. In 1926, Artigas goes back to Curitiba to take the admission exams for the paranaense boarding school, which is changing its way of teaching just at the time he entries. Later on, he moves to his grandfather’s house and his mother goes back to Curitiba with his younger brother.

                In 1932, Artigas starts studying engineering in the Parana school and in 1933, he changes to the Polytechnic School in São Paulo to study engineering and architecture.

                In 1936, he starts working with Oswaldo Bratke and asists to the Free Course of Design at the Fine Arts School in São Paulo. A year later, he gets his diploma in Engineering and Architecture. In 1938, with the help of Duilio Marone, he founds Marone&Artigas, a building company.

                In 1939, João Batista is working at the Warchavchick study, where he meets Jacob Rutchi, who is going to become a very good friend of him and who is going to help him study the Frank Lloyd Wright career. This last architect will have a great influence in the Artigas work.

                It is in 1940 when he begins his teaching career in the Polytechnic School. At this time, the architect is introducing himself into politics and shows his communist ideas. For this reason, he publishes different kinds of articles about modern architecture in magazines.

                He is fired from the Architecture and Urbanism Faculty (FAU), in 1954, for travelling to the URSS, so he just continues teaching at the Polytechnic School. Anyway, in 1955, thanks to different organisations of students, he is hired again at the Faculty.

                The next years his life is full of instability. He moves, he is prisoner, he is fired and hired…

                In 1969, he starts a new company with the architect Marlene Yurgel, so the study loses the Atelier characteristic and gets a new organisation, but he continues getting in troubles the next years.

                In 1980 he is accepted again as a teacher in the FAU and in 1981 he prepares a little exposition about his career and creates designs of cars, planes and ships with the help of his grandchildren.

                From now on, his political life stops, and he dedicates himself to the teaching area until 1985, when he dies in São Paulo. After, he receives the Auguste Perret Prize for his wole career and life.