(May 1902 - July 1981)
Tamara Barakat on words and images
ABOUT MARCEL BREUER
Marcel Breuer was one of the most important figures of twentieth-century modernism. As a student and master at the Bauhaus, he worked closely with Le Corbusier, reimagining how materials could define modern living. At a time when expressionism dominated, he approached design with rationality and restraint.
His projects spanned from modest houses in New England to civic landmarks like the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. No matter the scale, Breuer’s work carried a strong belief that space could shape the way people live inside it.
Although his true passion was architecture, Breuer was widely known for his furniture designs. “My intention was, with regards to my projects, to take a path that led to volumes that would always increase. That’s the reason I first focused on smaller elements, like chairs and other furniture…I then went from furniture to private homes…'' he wrote in a letter to Ise Gropius, (March 1932).
Breuer introduced some of the first tubular steel furniture pieces, which brought him international recognition. His most iconic creation, the Wassily Chair of 1925, set a new standard for functional furniture that was both industrial and elegant.
CELEBRATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WASSILY CHAIR
The chair was born at the Bauhaus, where Breuer taught and experimented. Its inspiration came from the bicycle he had just learned to ride, fascinated by the strength, lightness, and reproducibility of its tubular steel handlebars.
In an interview with a Knoll historian, Marcel Breuer described how it was born:
“At that time I was rather idealistic. I was 23 years old. I made friends with a young architect, and I bought my first bicycle. I learned to ride the bicycle and talked to this young fellow and told him that the bicycle seems to be a perfect production because it hasn’t changed in the last twenty, thirty years. It is still the original bicycle form. He said, “Did you ever see how they make those parts? How they bend those handlebars? You would be interested because they bend those steel tubes like macaroni.”
This somehow remained in his mind, and he started to think about steel tubes which are bent into frames. “I realized that the bending had to go further. It should only be bent with no points of welding so it could also be chromed in parts and put together.”
Breuer spoke of the chair as his “most extreme work . . . the least artistic, the most logical, the least ‘cozy’ and the most mechanical.” It was also his most influential piece of design, taking furniture in a radical new direction.
That is how the first Wassily was born. I was myself somewhat afraid of criticism. I didn’t tell anyone I was doing these experiments actually. [Wassily] Kandinsky, who came by chance to my studio when the first chair was brought in, said, “What’s this?” He was very interested and then the Bauhaus got very interested in it. A year later, I had furnished the whole Bauhaus with this furniture.”
Kandinsky, fellow Bauhaus instructor and Breuer’s friend, encountered the prototype by chance when he came by chance to Breuer’s and asked for his own version. The chair would later be dubbed the “Wassily” in his honor.
The Wassily is no longer only an object. It is a symbol of design stripped to its essence, a piece that resists the notion of trend and affirms the power of form, material, and vision to endure. Ninety years after its conception, it still embodies what Breuer called a “dialogue of quiet confidence,” born from an innovative mind and a belief in functional beauty.
"It is interesting," remarked Breuer, "that the modern furniture was promoted not by the professional furniture designers, but rather by architects."
Other famous steel chairs that i <3 by Breuer
Thonet poster,1934.
© Vitra Design Museum archives, Weil am Rhein.
Tam’s Personal notes
I’m not talking about Breur’s fantastic concrete buildings such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, nor the fact that he was a mentor to many and an important mentee to the Bauhaus architect master Le Corbusier. One thing I’d like to focus on is Breur’s design objects that for over a decade have fascinated design lovers and amateurs.
I’ve been curious about this designer. More and more I see the chairs that he built in the 1950s around. And I’m wondering how he was able to have such a strong effect so many years later.
Eternal pieces rather than trends. Pieces that use eternal materials and that will forever be beautiful, relevant and test the air of time.