Joaquim Tenreiro was born in 1906 in the village of Melo, Portugal. Woodworking was the family business. In his early 20s, however, he left for Rio de Janeiro and joined the firm of Laubisch Hirth. There was nothing provincial about Tenreiro. He had a daring modernist’s eye and brought a new visual vocabulary to Brazilian design. His knowledge of Brazil’s indigenous hardwoods allowed him to get maximum performance from shapes that were aerodynamic and often just airy. This exhibition features over 20 works, many never before exhibited. Tenreiro died in 1992 and today his coveted pieces command high-flying prices. —Laura Jacobs