Martin Eisler - Design New York Thursday, June 6, 2019 | Phillips

Design

New York Auction 6 June 2019

  • Literature

    “Nuovi mobili,” Domus, no. 322, September 1956, p. 46
    “Design Brasiliano: un sottofondo nativo,” Domus, no. 1001, April 2016, p. 28
    Jayme Vargas, Desenho da utopia: mobiliário moderno brasileiro, São Paulo, 2016, n.p.
    Alberto Vicente and Marcelo Vasconcellos, Brazilian Modern Design, São Paulo, 2017, pp. 228-29

  • Catalogue Essay

    Martin Eisler was born in Vienna, and as the son of Max Eisler, the art historian and founding member of the Austrian Werkbund, he was exposed to the world of progressive modern art and design from a young age. He attended the School of Applied Arts in Vienna before immigrating to Buenos Aires in 1938. There, he pursued a career as a designer and became a partner in Carlo Hauner’s furniture company, Forma S/A Móveis e Objetos de Arte. Forma played a pivotal role in the development of the Brazilian modern design aesthetic, one that drew on European and American influences while employing local materials. The firm positioned itself as an international purveyor of modern furniture, for example, acquiring the rights to make and sell Knoll International furniture in 1959. In the mid-1950s Hauner returned to Italy to open a branch in Brescia, and Eisler took over as creative director for the Latin American branches. The company’s Argentinian branch split off around 1959 to become Interieur Forma.

    With a grinning profile that transforms into a smirk, the present model Reversível armchair is an ingenious and comical take on the concept of an adjustable armchair. The construction is similar to Franco Albini and Ezio Sgrelli’s design for the adjustable Gala armchair (lot 12): each chair is adjusted by lifting the curved seat and placing it at the desired pitch on its conforming base. Materially and stylistically the armchair is purely of the 1950s, and its unique design reflective of Eisler’s innovative work for Forma.

54

Martin Eisler

“Reversível” armchair

circa 1956
Painted steel, fabric upholstery.
24 1/2 x 41 1/2 x 29 in. (62.2 x 105.4 x 73.7 cm)
Manufactured by Forma, Brazil.

Estimate
$15,000 - 20,000 

Sold for $18,750

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Design

New York Auction 6 June 2019