Page 211 - The 60.Venice Biennial & MoMA issue of WOA Contemporary Art magazine

Oscar Niemeyer (Brazilian, 1907–2012). “Module” Low Table . 1978. Painted plywood and Roberto Burle Marx (Brazilian, 1909–1994). Ibirapuera Park, Quadricentennial Gardens,
steel, 9 1/2 x 75 3/4 x 19 3/4" (24.1 x 192.4 x 50.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New project, São Paulo, Brazil (Plan, detail five ). 1953. Gouache on board, 43 x 52 1/8" (109.2
York. Committee on Architecture and Design Funds x 132.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Inter-American Fund

of Latin America can emerge.” new opportunities for industrial growth in the region. The role
The exhibition will critically examine MoMA’s engagement with of designers as entrepreneurs will also be examined, as will
Latin American design, starting in 1940 with the Museum’s designers’ involvement with international brands such as Knoll
Industrial Design Competition for the 21 American Republics. and Herman Miller. Throughout the exhibition, the role that
Winning entries were later exhibited as part of MoMA’s Organic women and immigrants played in shaping professional design
Design in Home and developing a national design vocabulary in Latin America
Furnishings exhibition, which opened the following year will be emphasized, including the work of designers such as
and was organized by Eliot Noyes, director of the Museum’s Clara Porset in Mexico, Cornelis Zitman in Venezuela, and Susi
Department of Industrial Design. Latin American designers were Aczel in Argentina.
encouraged to “engage their local materials and construction Crafting Modernity will consider the development of national
methods,” thus presenting a vision of Latin American design industries in several countries of the region, particularly
as the evolution of local traditions of craftsmanship. Winners
of the competition, such as Clara Porset and Michael van
Beuren (both from Mexico), merged modernist influences with
local craft traditions in their designs. Highlights of this section
include archival material from the 1941 exhibition, as well as
some of the winning designs, such as van Beuren’s Alacran
lounge chair (c. 1940).
Another focus of the exhibition will be domestic interiors, sites
of experimentation for modern living that were paramount
for fostering design in the region. Several case studies of
important homes will underscore their significance, such
as Lina Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro (Brazil, 1951) and Alfredo
Boulton’s house in Pampatar, whose furniture was designed
by Miguel Arroyo (Venezuela, 1953). Another thematic focus
will be the emergence of the profession of designer in Latin
America by examining the creative circles that helped to foster

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