- Title
- Deckchair Designed for Casa Valéria Cirell, Morumbi, São Paulo
- Date Made
- circa 1960
- Medium
- Iron, leather
- Dimensions
- 24 13/16 × 36 5/8 × 34 5/8 in. (63 × 93 × 88 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2020.11.2
- Collecting Area
- Latin American Art
- Curatorial Notes
Italian-born architect and designer Lina Bo Bardi moved to Brazil in 1946 and quickly earned both public and private commissions in São Paulo. She created this deckchair for the home she designed for her friend Valéria Piacentini Cirell, an interior designer and dealer with discerning taste. In the Cirell residence, Bo Bardi combined strict geometry with organic references to nature. Verandas extended the interior space and offered shade, providing a pleasant area to lounge in one of her chairs. Composed of a removable leather sling and a stylized iron frame, the deckchair combines soft and rigid shapes and materials. The design is reminiscent of the hammocks Bo Bardi saw on Brazilian riverboats—a reference to the natural setting and popular culture of her adopted home.
Among her important public commissions, Bo Bardi conceived the initial layout for the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), which opened in 1947, when the city was still emerging as a cultural center. Her husband Pietro Maria Bardi (1900–1999) served as founding director, and one of Bo Bardi’s early chair designs was used in the museum’s auditorium—a modern foldable, stackable chair made of jacaranda and stretched canvas. Twenty years later, she designed MASP’s iconic new building, constructed of glass and concrete and completed in 1968. The new MASP included her innovative glass display easels, which allowed artworks to be exhibited off the walls and enabled visitors to meander and move around the objects. These important designs have made Bo Bardi’s legacy inextricable from the architectural fabric of the city.
Rachel Kaplan
2024
