The most comprehensive survey of Brazilian modernist visionary Joaquim Tenreiro (1906-1992) to date, Inventing a modern tropical living reveals the full breadth and diversity of Tenreiro’s practice and inaugurates a new chapter for his legacy within the global narrative of design history. Tenreiro was a pioneer in furniture-making, pushing the limits of rediscovered raw materials such as native woods and wicker, and creating a new formal language in 20th-century Brazilian furniture design.
Marked by an appreciation for natural forms contained within the concise geometries of modernist design, he drew on the lessons of Brazil’s furniture-making traditions as a vital source, not only for its mastery of technical and constructive solutions, but also its emphasis on aesthetic experience, craftsmanship, and cultural meaning. As a result, his exquisitely crafted pieces evoke a refined coexistence of local tradition and modern aesthetics, firmly bound to Brazilian culture.
Tenreiro was born in Portugal and moved to Rio de Janeiro in the late 1920s. He refused to indulge in what he considered his adopted country’s parochial tastes and instead challenged the clientele he had quickly cultivated to appreciate more contemporary styles. In the early 1940s, he established his studio, and by the 1950s, he was designing furniture for modern architects like Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, Oswaldo Bratke, and Afonso Reidy.
Known for presenting his works with architecture and art in mind, Tenreiro’s ethos was grounded in a unity of disciplines, much like that of the Gesamtkunstwerk of Central European artists and architects of the Art Nouveau movement at the turn of the 20th century. For this comprehensive exhibition, Bossa will present sculptures by Jay Kelly, ceramics by Ilona Golovina, and works of other visionary Brazilian artists, including Di Cavalcanti, Mira Schendel, Lorenzato, and Antonio Dias, in conversation with Tenreiro’s works, honoring his holistic vision of artful living.
The exhibition comes to New York at a moment when Brazilian modern design is amassing an expanding cult-following within art and design internationally, while remaining relatively under-studied and its history fragmented and obstructed. Due to industrial and production limitations during the mid-century in Brazil, inventories remain low across the globe, and access to provenance and documentation is lacking. Since its founding in 2017, Bossa has taken a scholarly approach to acquisition, restoration, and curation, uncovering a deeper global awareness of Brazilian modern design. Driven by founder Isabela Milagre, Bossa’s endeavors to bring greater rigor and transparency to the Brazilian design market while inspiring a profound, scholarly curiosity.
“Tenreiro’s pieces are undeniably captivating, and what compels me most about him is an often overlooked narrative: his role as a visionary interior designer, a trendsetter, a curator, and a thinker of Brazilian modernism,” says Bossa Furniture Founder Isabela Milagre. “Beyond crafting exquisite furniture, he shaped new ways of living—reimagining modernity through a tropical lens, and fostering environments where modern art, design, and life could coexist in profound harmony.”
