On Thursday, December 10th at 6pm, PIASA is offering a design sale based on a selection of pieces by American and Brazilian designers produced in the 1950s to 1970s.
This sale will be in two parts: the first session will feature 73 lots of Brazilian design with figures from this scene (José Zanine Caldas, Joaquim Tenreiro, Jorge Zalszupin... ) while the second session, with 118 lots, will focus on the production of American designers such as George Nakashima, Paul Evans, David N. Ebner, Phillip Lloyd Powell...
The American and Brazilian design auctions organised by PIASA are unprecedented in terms of their configuration and the importance of the pieces they bring together, and are now a popular meeting place for design collectors. Indeed, these auctions bring together an exceptional catalogue of 191 lots that are perfectly representative of design creation in Brazil and the United States at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century.
George Nakashima (1905-1990)
Chaise longue - Custom order
Estimate: 35000 / 45000 €
The selection thus testifies to the pivotal character of the period, with, on the one hand, the striking presence of wood, witnessing the primary resources of these nations and a strong artisanal heritage, and, on the other hand, the use of materials such as aluminium, steel and glass, heralding the industrialisation of design.
José Zanine Caldas (1919-2001)
Sofa de Troncos
Estimate: 80000 / 120000 €
In the Brazilian catalogue, there are certain similarities with Italian production of the same period - Scapinelli, Tenreiro - obviously due to the migratory exchanges between the two countries, but also the traces of a nascent tropicalism - Niemeyer, Zanine Caldas - which will mark Brazilian culture from the mid-1960s onwards.
José Zanine Caldas (1919-2001)
Dining table
Estimate: 80000 / 120000 €
On the American side, alongside the works of the leading designers - Nakashima, Evans, Ebner, Powell, Nelson, McCobb - there are more eclectic pieces such as lamps by Isamu Noguchi, carpets by the artists Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko, seating by the architect Rudolf Schindler... which bear witness to the cross-disciplinary nature of the creative practices of the time in the United States.
