Poet His first poems date back to 1924; however, the first book
Poems only appeared in 1947 due to the insistence of his friends. Joaquim Cardozo, who had a prodigious memory, knew all his poems by heart and did not modify them, not even a single comma, when he recited them publicly at different periods.I'm not really a poet. My life is full of gaps in poetry. — Joaquim CardozoHe lived with modernist poets, such as
Manuel Bandeira and
João Cabral de Melo Neto, having published several books between 1946 and 1975, using as themes mainly his native
Recife and the
Brazilian Northeast. He was also a translator and art critic. He held Chair 39 at the
Academia Pernambucana de Letras. Elected on February 18, 1975, he took office on September 6, 1977, one year before his death. In total, eleven books authored by him were published, of which the inaugural
Poems stand out, which had a preface by the poet
Carlos Drummond de Andrade, one of his greatest admirers, as well as two of his theatrical works,
O Coronel de Macambira and
De uma Noite de Festa, and his
Complete Poems. A Lit Book and Nine Dark Songs was his last book, published posthumously. His work in the press includes time at Diario de Pernambuco as a cartoonist, and stints as collaborator and director of Revista do Norte, Revista do Patrimônio Histórico and the magazines Para Todos and Módulo.
Engineer I do not visualize any incompatibility between poetry and architecture. The structures planned by modern architects are true poetry. To work to carry out these projects is to realize a poetry. — Joaquim CardozoSpecializing in structural calculations, he was notable for his collaboration with architect Oscar Niemeyer in the construction of Brasília and the Pampulha Modern Ensemble. His calculation assumptions allowed challenging works in the federal capital such as the Palácio do Planalto, the Palácio da Alvorada and the Metropolitan Cathedral to barely touch the ground, with delicate bases, a feat considered even more impressive taking into account the structural strength of concrete at the time, five times smaller than today. After completing secondary school at Ginásio Pernambucano, Joaquim Cardozo began studying at the School of Engineering of Pernambuco in 1915. He graduated fifteen years later due to his father's death and economic difficulties, during which time he served in the military and worked as a surveyor. In the year he was to complete his engineering course, he became a draftsman for irrigation projects and the drilling of tubular wells for the Government of Pernambuco, alongside German engineer Von Tilling. After Von Tilling's death, still a student, Joaquim Cardozo was put in charge of the irrigation project for one of the islands of the
São Francisco River. Subsequently, he performed the calculations for the vertical parabolic curves of the first bus station with concrete paving in the Northeast, in Recife. == Works in collaboration with Niemeyer ==