Oscar Niemeyer Easy Chair and Ottoman

This lounge set was made by Oscar Niemeyer and has made its way here to Los Angeles.

Oscar Niemeyer was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1907. He studied architecture at the National School of Fine Arts. In 1936, he was part of team that built the first modern building in Brazil, the Ministry of Education and Culture, in Rio de Janeiro, the design of which was done by Le Corbusier. In 1947, he wins alongside the French-swiss architect the contest to design the UN headquarters in New York. The 1940s also see the building of the Pampulha Complex in Belo Horizonte, which exemplifies his modernist design aesthetics. The invitation was made by future president Juscelino Kubitscheck, whom a decade later enlists Lucio Costa and Niemeyer to conceptualize, respectively, the urban and architectural plan for Brasilia. The new capital is inaugurated in 1960, and its repercussion makes Niemeyer one of the most celebrated architects of his time. Niemeyer is in Europe when the military coup takes place in Brazil in 1964. He chooses political exile and sets residence in Paris where he concludes the Communist Party headquarters. In France, he designs in the 1970s, his first set of furniture alongside his daughter Anna Maria. He returns to Brazil in 1985. He wins the Pritzker in 1988. He dies in 2012, at 105 years old, having done projects in Brazilian cities and New York, Paris, Beirut, Caracas, Tel Aviv, Argel, Milan, Aviles and Le Havre.

Oscar Niemeyer

‘Easy’ Chair and Ottoman

1970s

Ebonized Wood and Leather

140 x 70 x 70 cm / 55.1 x 27.6 x 27.6 in

Made in Brazil