Júlio Katinsky (b. 1932) was born in Salto in the state of São Paulo and graduated from the FAU-USP (Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo) in 1957. He began a very productive period in the 1960s and taught at his alma mater, where he also earned a PhD (1973). As part of the generation of architects that included Lúcio Costa, João Batista Vilanova Artigas, Oscar Niemeyer, and Rino Levi (whose work is mentioned in this essay), the author was acclaimed for his designs for public school buildings and his research into architectural schools and intellectual development. Katinsky designed several pieces of furniture, including the famous Katinsky Chair (1959), a noted example of Brazilian modern furniture design.
This essay appeared in Projeto Construtivo Brasileiro na Arte, the catalogue for the exhibition organized in São Paulo by Aracy Amaral (b. 1930) and Lygia Pape (1927–2004). The event was hugely influential in Brazil, prompting an innovative reading of the meaning of the rationalist movements in Brazilian art. The exhibition was presented in 1977 at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo and, later on, at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro).
[For more information about this exhibition, see the following: “Projeto construtivo brasileiro na arte” (doc. no. 1110680) by Pape; “A arquitetura é a grande arte de nosso tempo —1948: Romero Brest em São Paulo” (doc. no. 1314972) by Jorge Romero Brest; “Concretismo/ Neoconcretismo” (doc. no. 1315134) by Frederico Morais; “Arte Concreta” (doc. no. 1315020), “Da arte concreta à arte neoconcreta” (doc. no. 1315036), “Arte neoconcreta, uma contribuição brasileira” (doc. no. 1315052), “Concretos de São Paulo no MAM” (doc. no. 1315102), and “Resposta a Cordeiro” (doc. no. 1315118) by Ferreira Gullar; see also “O problema da educação artística depois da Bauhaus” (doc. no. 1315069) by Tomás Maldonado.]