Lot 111: LÚCIO COSTA

PAIR OF ARMCHAIRS

measurements note
26 in. (66 cm) high

manufactured by OCA, Rio de Janeiro

ca. 1960

rosewood and leather

LITERATURE

Lúcio Costa: Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, 1986, pp. 30-31 (for Lúcio Costa sitting in the chair model in his home in Rio de Janeiro)
Maria Cecília Loschiavo dos Santos, O Móvel Moderno no Brasil, Sao Paolo, 1995, p. 59
Guilherme Wisnik, Lúcio Costa, Sao Paolo, 2001, p. 126

NOTE

Brazilian architect, urban planner, and author Lúcio Costa was instrumental in the creation of a post-war style in Latin America that integrated a Colonial tradition and tropical environment with International-Style modernism. Costa designed the urban plan of the futuristic capital city of Brasília in 1956 after winning the national contest. In addition to his architectural planning, Costa also designed furniture with Oscar Niemeyer, his student and collaborator, as early as 1935. In that year, the two created a furniture series in wood, leather and metal for the Ministry of Education and Health in Rio de Janeiro. The early furniture series helped to cement the position of functionalism in Brazil. The rare armchairs offered here were produced by Oca, the Brazilian furniture company founded by designer Sergio Rodrigues in 1960. While Costa never received the acclaim that his contemporaries garnered, his continued work in architecture and preservation were influential throughout Brazil.

By the time Lúcio Costa designed these chairs, he had largely retreated from public life due to the untimely death of his wife. At the time of his death in 1998, this pioneering modernist had receded into the background while Niemeyer and others became prominent and successful worldwide.

--Michelle Everidge