08/19/2026
The Curve and the Straight Line
The Geometry of Brazilian Modernism
In 1955, Le Corbusier published Le Poème de l’angle droit, a series of nineteen lithographs accompanied by texts in which the right angle emerges as a principle of order and a point of connection between man and his environment.
Forty-three years later, Oscar Niemeyer wrote in a poem of his own attraction to the free curves he found in Brazil’s mountains and rivers.
The tension between these two geometries informed much of twentieth-century architecture and found a natural extension in furniture. Yet the distinction rarely holds when considering a designer’s body of work as a whole.
A curved backrest may rest on an orthogonal structure; the rigid plane of a table may soften at its edges. Rather than opposites, the curve and the straight line continually meet, balance, and depend on one another.
1. Amorfa Coffee Table - Arthur Casas, 2017
2. Dominó Concreto Bench - Claudia Moreira Salles, 2024 | Asturias Ottoman - Carlos Motta, 2001 | Caju Coffee Table - Carlos Motta, 2004
3. Cuiabá Dining Chair - Sergio Rodrigues, 1985 | Circular Dining Table - Joaquim Tenreiro, 1950 / Reissued by Etel
4. Barca Armchair - Carlos Motta, 2018
5. Cuiabá Mirror - Sergio Rodrigues, 1985
6. JZ Tea Trolley - Jorge Zalszupin, 1959 / Reissued by Etel
7. Onda Bench, Jorge Zalszupin, 1960 / Reissued by Etel
8. Marquesa Bench - Oscar Niemeyer, 1974 / Reissued by Etel
9. Gaivota 80s Lounge Armchair - Ricardo Fasanello, 1970 | Ayahuasca Sideboard - Arthur Casas, 2022 | FM Table Lighting - Claudia Moreira Salles
Photos capture by , , ,
