Hasta La Ideas

(Photo: Christie’s)

It’s name is Rio and it dances on demand. In today’s Friday Photo, we spotlight “Rio,” a rocking chaise longue designed in 1978 by Oscar Niemeyer and manufactured by Tendo Brasiliera. The swooping seat of bentwood, caning, leather, and brass goes on the block Tuesday at Christie’s, where it’s estimated to sell for between $15,000 and $20,000. Other standout lots at the auction house’s sale of 20th century decorative arts and design include architectural elements designed by Louis Sullivan (wouldn’t this wrought-iron elevator enclosure, salvaged from the Chicago Stock Exchange Building, make a dynamite headboard?) and Frank Lloyd Wright (leaded glass windows, oodles of them!) as well as an extraordinary Josef Hoffmann Wiener Werkstätte mantel clock. And don’t miss the highly collectible animal sculptures by François-Xavier Lalanne, or as we call them here at UnBeige HQ, “Lalannimals.” Come auction time, the bronze cheetah is expected to go for about four times as much as the cooper tortoise—unless the cheetah gets cocky, allowing the tortoise to teach us all a valuable lesson.