The end of World War II ushered in an era of prosperity for Brazil. The period brought with it economic growth, new port facilities, revamped roads, burgeoning agriculture, new technology, and the arrival of new materials. As is often the case with changing economic and political landscapes, art and architecture followed suit. From the 1940s onward, Brazilian design adopted and adapted to the wealth of industrialization, a period currently being surveyed in Turning Tides: Designing a Modern Brazil, on view until May 31 at New York’s Carpenters Workshop Gallery.
Curated by Maria Cecilia Loschiavo, the exhibition spans works from the 1940s to the present to capture 75 years of Brazilian design. This, of course, includes work by Oscar Niemeyer, namely his 1960 side tables, consisting of curving steel plates topped with glass. The pieces, shown altogether in the New York gallery, show the creative and diverse approaches to modernism, reflective of Brazil’s post-war optimism, prescient views on consumerism, and emerging aesthetics from the ‘60s.
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