As part of the Design sale on 15 July 2020 in Brussels, PIASA auction house is offering a selection of pieces designed by the famous Brazilian designer Joaquim Tenreiro (1906 - 1992).
Born in 1906 in Portugal to a father who was a carpenter, Joaquim Tenreiro moved to Brazil at the age of 22. In Rio, he studied design at the Portuguese Literary Museum and then at the Lyceum of Arts and Crafts. Although Tenreiro has a great interest in painting, he turns to crafts and interior design. He then worked in collaboration with furniture manufacturers Laubisch and Hirth and Leandro Martins until the 1940s.
However, Tenreiro, whose sensibility is resolutely modern, does not flourish in imitating European styles and creating furniture with conservative yet fashionable forms. His artistic identity only really asserted itself in 1942, when Oscar Niemayer called on him to build the residence of the writer Francisco Inacio Peixoto. The pieces he produced for this project constitute the designer's birth certificate.
On several other projects, including the design of some of Brasilia's buildings, Niemayer used the talents of the designer, whom he considered to be one of those who best embodied Brazilian modernity. In 1943, Tenreiro opened his own studio in Rio de Janeiro and designed the pieces that earned him international recognition, including the famous tripod chair. Like the dining room table in peroban wood (lot 126), which dates from the 1950s, Tenreiro's furniture is distinguished by the attention paid to the work with tropical materials and the sobriety of its lines.
Joaquim Tenreiro (1906-1992)
Table de salle à manger
Bois de peroba, années 1950
Estimation : 10000 / 15000 €
At the end of the 1960s, Joaquim Tenreiro stopped his design activity to devote himself exclusively to painting and sculpture. The works he produced were then exhibited in several museums and galleries in São Paulo and Rio. Upon his death in 1996, Joaquim Tenreiro is celebrated as the pioneer of modern Brazilian design.
Joaquim Tenreiro (1906-1992)
Série de six chaises
Bois de peroba et textile, 1958
Estimation : 12000 / 18000 €
In the 1930s, high-end Brazilian furniture was mainly European-inspired, ornate, large-sized furniture. The series of six chairs dating from 1958, estimated at between 12,000 and 18,000 euros, is a good symbol of Joaquim Tenreiro's break with the past. The pure lines of the chair and the six horizontal slats of the backrest highlight the subtlety of the work on peroba wood.
Joaquim Tenreiro (1906-1992)
Canapé
Bois de jatoba et velours, vers 1961
Estimation : 10000 / 15000 €
The sofa in velvet and jatoba wood, made in the early 1960s, is estimated at between 10,000 and 15,000 euros. It bears witness to the modernity of Tenreiro's designs, inspired by those of Le Corbusier.
