Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/193668
Tenreiro also worked with the legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer, making furniture for his home. n the early 2000s, when Zesty Meyers of R Gallery in New York first began showing furniture by Brazilian designer Joaquim Tenreiro, not many collectors outside of Rio knew much about the Mid-Century master. Meyers and his R Gallery co-founder Evan Snyderman worked steadily to build a market for Tenreiro and other Brazilian Modernists, such as Sergio Rodrigues and José Zanine Caldas, by locating the furniture and championing it passionately to international audiences at fairs like Design Miami/. "Nobody's ever done what Tenreiro did," says Meyers, gesturing to one of the designer's custom 1950s sofas. "Look at the subtle curves of the legs. If you compare it with, say, a Knoll sofa of the same period, the Knoll is going to look standardized and rectilinear. The real difference is, his is made by hand, not a machine." One of the handful of clients to share Meyers' early enthusiasm for Tenreiro was Gordon VeneKlasen, the longtime director of the Michael Werner Gallery and a discerning collector of both art and design. About 10 years ago, VeneKlasen traveled to Brazil with design on his mind. He recalls seeing a Tenreiro chair at a dinner party in a private home in Rio. "I asked my hostess, where can I get one of those?" he recalls. Before the end of his vacation, he had procured a table, sideboard and group of chairs from a local source. He spent about $12,000 for the bunch. "Tenreiro's pieces have the feeling of European Modernism, but they are all in unusual and rare woods and everything is a one-off," VeneKlasen says. "They had the rarity factor going for them and there was very little written on them at the time. For a couple of years, I felt like I was the only buyer." Although the market for his work has evolved, Tenreiro should be better known, say Meyers and VeneKlasen. To that end, the two have teamed up to present a comprehensive exhibition of the designer's work opening at R Gallery on November 12, with VeneKlasen curating a selection from his holdings and from the gallery's extensive inventory. To design the show, VeneKlasen enlisted his close friend Annabelle Selldorf, the architect who created the interiors of his homes in New York, Los Angeles and East Hampton, as well as gallery spaces for Michael Werner (and also for Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner and Acquavella). "She's gotten to know the material through the dialogue we've had," he says. "She's great at coming up with interesting ways to present things." One proposed gambit to demonstrate the range of Tenreiro's output: a progression of his many styles and types of chairs. "He made so many wildly different kinds," 82 CULTURED says Meyers. "The only other designer who had as much variety was Gio Ponti." Meyers is still learning about Tenreiro's work and his milieu. "When I first went to Brazil, I said it would take 25 years to figure all of this out," he says, and has been steadily compiling an archive of drawings, photographs, correspondence and other documentation that he hopes will give a fuller picture of the designer's life. Often referred to as the father of modern Brazilian design, Tenreiro (1906– 1992) was a conceptual thinker who had an acute awareness of his materials—exotic Brazilian hardwoods, wicker and colored glass—and wanted anyone who used this furniture to be similarly attuned to the touch and feel of his creations. At its best, his diverse output balances craft and concept, sensuality and form. Born in Portugal, he moved with his family to Brazil in 1928. He worked for several furniture manufacturers and, by the early 1940s, opened his own firm, which catered to a wealthy Brazilian clientele who wanted customized pieces. He was keenly aware of history, drawing on classic European shapes like the Windsor chair and subtly altering those forms by putting the detailing on the back, where you might not necessarily see it or tapering a spindle where it joined to the seat—where it would ordinarily be thicker—bending wood instead of carving it so that no two beveled surfaces were alike. These kinds of "beautiful imperfections," says Meyers, are what set him apart, as well as the fact that "he looks back to the past and takes it to the future. It's the first thing that's truly Brazilian and not European colonialism." Tenreiro also worked with the legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer, making furniture for his home and for government buildings in Brasília, the capital city Niemeyer designed. By 1967, however, Tenreiro shuttered his design studio to focus on non-functional art. "He was sort of a Jean-Michel Frank type," says VeneKlasen, referring to the Art Deco master. "He did whole environments for people, he made tiles and fabrics. You'd buy a lifestyle. He was unusual in that way. What he did is just so refined." There are countless such pieces in VeneKlasen's West Village carriage house, including two delicate, glass-topped tables, a pair of dark, angular, upholstered arm chairs and a very rare and delicate ebony credenza. "If I'm going to buy something, it should be really special," says VeneKlasen, nodding to his Tenreiros. The exhibition at R Gallery will make clear just how special Tenreiro's designs really are. PHOTO BY SHERRY GRIFFIN/COURTESY R GALLERY I Joaquim Tenreiro's low bedroom chair in caviuna wood with a woven cane seat and back, circa 1950