Joaquim Tenreiro Jacaranda Long Chair, Brazil, 1950s
View Similar Items
Joaquim Tenreiro Jacaranda Long Chair, Brazil, 1950s
About the Item
- Creator:Joaquim Tenreiro (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 23.63 in (60 cm)Width: 63 in (160 cm)Depth: 25.6 in (65 cm)Seat Height: 11.82 in (30 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Refinished. Reupholstered.
- Seller Location:Dubai, AE
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU5318221300702
Joaquim Tenreiro
The Portugese-born furniture designer Joaquim Tenreiro was a pioneer of modernism in Brazil, where his work paved the way for the successes of such mid-20th-century design greats as Sergio Rodrigues, Jorge Zalszupin, and Lina Bo Bardi, an Italian-Brazilian architect whose futuristic São Paulo buildings are only part of her legacy.
Tenreiro’s vintage tables, chairs and storage cabinets are known for their simplicity of line and an elegance that is enhanced by the use of richly grained South American hardwoods such as jacaranda and imbuia.
Tenreiro’s father and grandfather were both master woodworkers, under whom he trained in the craft. He had artistic leanings and in the late 1920s enrolled as a university student at the School of Arts and Crafts in Rio de Janeiro, where he joined a group of upstart modernists protesting the staid, retrograde curriculum at the college. At the time, Brazil was culturally mired in a 19th-century mindset that was reflected in an upper-class preference for academic painting and reproduction furnishings in antique European styles. But the progressive spirit that Tenreiro and his colleagues fostered slowly gained force.
With the terms “lightness” and “functionality” as his bywords, Tenreiro opened a furniture-design business in 1943, where one of his first clients was the legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer. The arrival of Brazil’s first democratically elected government, in 1945, lent modernism official sanction, which culminated in the construction of the new capital, Brasília. Tenreiro eventually stepped away from design in the late 1960s to devote his time to sculpture and painting.
To appreciate how revolutionary Tenreiro’s work seemed, one must imagine the heavy, ornately carved, deeply varnished furniture that was the standard for top-end Brazilian interior design in the 1930s. Tenreiro’s chairs and sofas employed slender, softly angular frames that were only lightly stained to highlight the grains of the local woods. He preferred chairs and chaises with caned seats and backrests that “breathe” in the tropical climate, and as a carpenter and joiner he wanted to show off the beauty of Brazilian wood.
Two versions of a three-legged side chair introduced in 1947 serve as a veritable manifesto for a new age in Brazilian design: Using the stack-lamination technique, Tenreiro bonded together a gently contoured seat made of alternating layers of different-colored native woods to produce a magnificent stripe effect. These chairs, like all Tenreiro works, demonstrate the enduring power of simple design and superb construction — with a teaspoon of flair.
Find vintage Joaquim Tenreiro furniture on 1stDibs.
- 1950s Brazilian Stool by Joaquim TenreiroBy Joaquim TenreiroLocated in London, GB1950s Brazilian Stool by Joaquim Tenreiro. Two-tone wood seat on black enamelled steel base. Produced for a private commission in Copacabana, Rio de Ja...Category
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsHardwood
$4,559 Sale Price20% Off - Brazilian Modern 4 Chair Set in Hardwood & Cane, Joaquim Tenreiro, Brazil, 1950sBy Joaquim TenreiroLocated in New York, NYAvailable today, this Mid-Century Modern chair set made in Brazilian rosewood and caning designed by Joaquim Tenreiro in Brazil during the fifties is ...Category
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsCane, Hardwood
- Joaquim Tenreiro: Exceptional Pair of Jacaranda Armchairs, Brazil 1940'sBy Joaquim TenreiroLocated in New York, NYJoaquim Tenreiro (1906 - 1992) A stunning pair of armchairs of exceptional lightness and elegance, in jacaranda, by pioneer of Brazilian modernism...Category
Vintage 1940s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFabric, Hardwood
$20,000 Sale Price / item54% Off - Joaquim Tenreiro: Exceptional Pair of Jacaranda Armchairs, Brazil 1940'sBy Joaquim TenreiroLocated in New York, NYJoaquim Tenreiro (1906 - 1992) A stunning pair of armchairs of exceptional lightness and elegance, in jacaranda, by pioneer of Brazilian modernism Joaquim Tenreiro. With their slim...Category
Vintage 1940s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFabric, Hardwood
- Joaquim Tenreiro Dining Chairs, Solid Wood and Fabric, MidCentury, Brazil, 1950sBy Joaquim TenreiroLocated in New York, NYAvailable in eight units, this set of dining chairs was designed by Joaquim Tenreiro (1906-1992) in the 1950s. Much like Tenreiro's other creations, this sense of lightness transcend...Category
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Wood
- Brazilian Modern 4 Chair Set in Hardwood, Cane, Leather, Joaquim Tenreiro 1950sBy Joaquim TenreiroLocated in New York, NYAvailable today, this Mid-Century Modern four chair set made in Brazilian Rosewood, Leather and Caning designed by Joaquim Tenreiro in Brazil during the fifties is absolutely magnifi...Category
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Cane, Hardwood