Anna Maria Baldo Niemeyer (16 December 1929 – 6 June 2012) was a Brazilian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

furniture design Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

er and gallery owner. The only daughter of

Oscar Niemeyer Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...

, she worked with her father to design the civic buildings for

Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...

, focusing primarily on interior spaces and decoration. When her father decided to make furniture to harmonize his structures with the design elements, she turned her interest to furniture designing. Her two most noted designs were the initial prototype called the "Alta" and the "Rio". In her later career, she ran an art gallery in Rio, which at one time was the only gallery in the city, and assisted in the creation of the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum.

Early life

Niemeyer was born on 16 December 1929 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

to Annita Baldo and Oscar Niemeyer.

Career

When the Urbanization Company of New Capital of Brazil ( pt, Companhia Urbanizadora da Nova Capital do Brasil (NOVACAP)), was established in 1956, Niemeyer's father held the position of architect-in-charge. As such, he had responsibility for all the designs of buildings and monuments in the planned city. In 1960, Niemeyer moved to

as one of the 120 professionals in the Urbanism and Architecture Department of NOVACAP. Her work with her father, focused on designing interior spaces for some of his buildings, including the

Palácio da Alvorada The Palácio da Alvorada () is the official residence of the President of Brazil. It is located in the national capital of Brasília, on a peninsula at the margins of Paranoá Lake. The building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and built between ...

, the

Palácio do Planalto The Palácio do Planalto () in Brasília is the official workplace of the president of Brazil.National Congress and the Supreme Federal Court. The Palácio da Alvorada is the official residence of Brazil's president, and Niemeyer was responsible for the design of the banquet hall, as well as the interior decoration and design of the chairs. She completed furniture designs for the Palácio do Planalto and designed the tiled sauna for the Congressional Clubhouse. Palacio do Planalto Reception

Beginning in 1970, Niemeyer, in collaboration with her father, began producing furniture, based on a Swedish technique using plywood and glue to create curved forms. By creating their own furniture, they were able to harmonize the design of the building with furniture that actually fit the spaces, rather than losing the room design to the furnishings. The duo typically used natural materials including leather, straw and wood, though their first design was of metal. In 1971, the first protype was created in France, because the technology to bend the steel was not yet available in Brazil. The oversized chair, with a stool, "Alta" was designed by Niemeyer and featured a curved steel frame over which the seat and backrest were mounted on wood and upholstered with leather. Later, the pieces of "mobile architecture" that Niemeyer produced were made of bent pressed wood, as construction was easier and less expensive. The furniture she produced included stationary and rocking chairs, couches and longues and tables, of which most were originally designed for her father's architectural projects. Most of the furnishings were produced in Brazil, but the duo also opened a manufacturing studio in Italy where some pieces were made. A Japanese firm, Tendo Brasileira, operating in Brazil, was initially given exclusive production rights and each piece was issued a unique serial number to prevent forgeries. In the 1980s, the firm of Milly Teperman of São Paulo began production of the designs. Niemeyers works were exhibited in many locations throughout the world, including among others, the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Salon in Paris, the Internationale Möbelmesse Fair in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, the

Milan Furniture Fair The Milan Furniture Fair ( it, Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano) is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from countrie ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and the United Nations Building in New York City. The Niemeyers' most important design was the "Rio", a

chaise longue A chaise longue (; , "long chair") is an upholstered sofa in the shape of a chair that is long enough to support the legs of the sitter. In modern French the term ''chaise longue'' can refer to any long reclining chair such as a deckchair. ...

designed in 1970 for her father's personal use. Using the curves favored by her father, reminiscent of the coastline of his native Brazil and the figure of a woman, the frame was made of three curved elements to give balance and create the structure of the chair. The main support allowed the chair to rock and provided balance, while the smaller elements braced the head and foot of the seat. The shaped plywood was stained with black lacquer and the cylindrical headrest affixed by two cords was made of black leather. Tensioned wicker of woven natural cane stretched over the frame to form the seat of the rocker. The chair did not go into production until 1978, when it was made in Brazil at the Tendo plant. Chaise-longue Rio (1978) by O

Niemeyer left Brasília in 1973 and in 1977, after returning to Rio de Janeiro opened the Galeria Anna Maria Niemeyer. Two years later, she moved the gallery to the neighborhood of

Gávea Gávea is an affluent residential neighborhood located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It borders São Conrado, Leblon, Lagoa and Jardim Botânico neighborhoods and is famous for its high concentration of artists. PU ...

. In the 1980s, Niemeyer began a relationship with Carlos Magalhães da Silveira, an architect with whom she had worked at NOVACAP and who also was a business partner of her father. They married and had two children, Carlos Oscar and Ana Cláudia. During the 1990s, hers was the only art gallery in Rio. She featured works of many of Brazil's iconic artists, including , ,

Franz Weissmann Franz Josef Weissmann (September 15, 1911 – July 18, 2005) was a Brazilian sculptor born in Austria, emigrating to Brazil while he was eleven years old. Geometric shapes, like cubes and squares, are strongly featured in his works. He was one ...

and others, hosting over 300 exhibits during her lifetime. She was one of the founders of the idea to create the

Niterói Contemporary Art Museum The Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (''Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói'' — MAC) is situated in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is one of the city’s main landmarks. It was completed in 1996. The MAC-Niterói was d ...

( pt, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (MAC-Niterói)), along with Victor Arruda. Between 1991 and 1996, she worked on designs of the MAC-Niterói project with her father. All of the furnishings of the museum were her designs. She also collaborated with her father on the Latin-American Parliament Building in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

and the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area ...

. In 2003, Niemeyer and Magalhães separated, after their daughter was killed in a car accident. In 2010, Niemeyer was called by President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...

to assist in returning the interior of the Alvorada Palace back to its original presentation. Over the years, furnishings had been replaced, put in storage, or the rooms altered to fit the customs and preferences of the various occupants. Lula wanted to restore the original design to preserve the historical integrity of the residence. Searching through archives and government properties, first lady Marisa Lula oversaw the project in which she discovered through Niemeyer that the original chairs, thought to have been

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

creations shipped from Barcelona, were in fact copies made by Niemeyer, as there was no money to buy the 1929 originals or have them shipped.

Death and legacy

Niemeyer died on 6 June 2012 in the Samaritan Hospital of Rio after a lengthy stay with emphysema and cancer. She was buried at the

Cemitério de São João Batista Cemitério de São João Batista (Saint John the Baptist's Cemetery) is a municipal necropolis originally owned and operated by the ''Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro'' (Holy House of Mercy of Rio de Janeiro), and run, since August 20 ...

in the

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood ('' bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of ...

neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. Her furniture designs have become collectors items and are featured in museum and private collections, like the "Rio" in the permanent collection of the NoHo Modern in the

NoHo Arts District, Los Angeles The NoHo Arts District is a community in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, that is home to contemporary theaters, art galleries, cafes, and shops. The community is generally bounded by Hatteras Street to the north, Cahuenga Blvd to the ...

. They have been sold by both Christie's and

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

as works of art.

References

Bibliography

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