Flavio de Carvalho, FDC1 armchair

FLAVIO DE CARVALHO (Barra Mansa, Brazil, 1899–Valinhos, Brazil, 1973).
FDC1 armchair, ca. 1950.
Metal and black leather.
Measurements: 81 x 79 x 70 cm.

The FDC1 model belongs to the most experimental strand of modern Brazilian furniture and reflects the relationship between art, architecture, and design present in the work of Flávio de Carvalho. It is an armchair with a metal frame defined by a wide, slanted hoop, upon which the leather straps forming the backrest are arranged. The suspended seat and slender legs reinforce the visual lightness of the piece, while the contrast between the curves of the frame and the straps creates a composition with distinct graphic hallmarks.

Flávio de Carvalho was an architect, artist, and designer associated with Modernism. Trained in engineering and fine arts in England, he pursued a career that spanned painting, sculpture, theater, architecture, and furniture design, with an experimental approach that challenged the artistic and social conventions of his time. Active in São Paulo’s cultural scene, he was associated with the Anthropophagic Movement, which sought to assimilate international influences to build a distinctively Brazilian culture. He was also a pioneer of performance art in Brazil: his public interventions used the body and clothing to explore collective reactions and behaviors. Flávio de Carvalho’s work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP), the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC USP), the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art (MAM), and the Pinacoteca de São Paulo.