Álvaro Siza

ÁLVARO SIZA (Motosinhos, Portugal, 1933).
"Esboço de duas pessoas", Oporto, 2006.
Pencil on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 39.5 x 29.5 cm; 58 x 47.5 cm (frame).

The renowned architect Álvaro Siza also has a singular facet as a draftsman. Some critics have defined him as the "draftsman of dreams", because his compositions seem to be the result of a continuous stroke made in an almost trance-like state with which he weaves dream and wakefulness. One of the most outstanding aspects of his creative process is the sketch, according to scholars of his plastic work, because in it the psychic automatism flows unhindered.

Álvaro Siza studied architecture at the School of Fine Arts in Porto, where he graduated in 1966 and where he began to work as a teacher. In addition, Siza has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Lausanne, Pennsylvania, Bogota and Harvard. Among his most important works are the Casa de Cha Boa Nova Restaurant (1958); the Swimming Pools in Leça de Palmeira (1966); the Schlesisches tor Housing in Berlin (1988); the Meteorology Center in Barcelona (1992); the Galician Center of Contemporary Art in Santiago (1993); and the Faculty of Architecture (1988), the Marco de Canaveses Church (1996) and the Serralves Foundation (1999), in Porto. Siza has been awarded, among others, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, the Gold Medal for Architecture and the Gold Medal of the Alvar Aalto Foundation, all awarded in 1988; the Pritzker Prize in 1992, and the Praemium Imperiale in 1998.