Lina Bo Bardi, Brazil, 1953-70
Bardi's Bowl
1953 - 1970
Made by Ambiente
Aluminum, jute, foam, metal, and fabric
Originally designed in 1951, Lina Bo Bardi first published her design for the Bowl Chair in 1953 in an issue of Habitat, the magazine she founded as the Brazilian equivalent of Domus, and put it into production with the São Paulo firm Ambiente. While the chair was featured in several American publications, it was never retailed in the U.S., and no examples from the early edition are known to have been shipped outside of Brazil. The Bowl Chair is the most sought-after historical Brazilian design masterwork among museums and institutions, and an example was featured in the Museum of Modern Art’s Crafting Modernity: Design in Latin America, 1940–1980.
In the past eight years, it has been acquired by three American museums, including MoMA, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the MFA Boston, which acquired the work from R & Company in 2023. The example presented by the gallery was acquired from a descendant of the original Brazilian owner, accompanied by a certificate and a technical analysis from the Instituto Lina Bo Bardi/Casa de Vidro.
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