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Lot Essay
Cf: Christopher Wilk, MArcel Breuer, Furniture and Interiors, New York, 1981, p. 115, et seq.
See also: Magdalena Droste, Manfred Ludewig, Marcel Breuer, Cologne, 1992, p. 50
Vitra Design Museum, 100 Masterpieces, Basel, 1996, Exh. Cat. No. 5, pp. 30 and 32
Breuer's first designs for aluminium furniture date from 1932 and on 22 November of that year he applied for patents to protect his 'Frames for Pliant Chairs', which included the present chair. The following year a further application was made for the identical designs in Switzerland (see Wilk, p. 117). Breuer's designs were first marketed by the Swiss firm of Wohnbedarf, an enterprise set up to promote architect designed furniture and accessories for the home. Their range included work by Le Corbusier, Aalto, Breuer and the Swiss designers Flora and Alfred Steiger and Emil Roth. The Swiss company Embru (Eisen- und Metallbettenfabrik) were the main manufacturers for Wohnbedarf and in 1933 they persuaded Breuer to submit five of his designs, including the present design, to the international competition of the Best Aluminium Chair, sponsored by Alliance Aluminium Cie of France. Breuer's designs were awarded first prize by each of the two separate juries, one representing the aluminium industry, the other representing the International Congress of Modern Architecture.
The designs in the aluminium series met with great popular acclaim and formed the link between the tubular steel furniture of Breuer's time at the Bauhaus in Germany and the plywood furniture which he developed after his emigration to England between 1935 and 1937. It was at the suggestion of Walter Gropius that Breuer adapted his design for this aluminium chair to create the famous Long Chair for Isokon in 1936.
See also: Magdalena Droste, Manfred Ludewig, Marcel Breuer, Cologne, 1992, p. 50
Vitra Design Museum, 100 Masterpieces, Basel, 1996, Exh. Cat. No. 5, pp. 30 and 32
Breuer's first designs for aluminium furniture date from 1932 and on 22 November of that year he applied for patents to protect his 'Frames for Pliant Chairs', which included the present chair. The following year a further application was made for the identical designs in Switzerland (see Wilk, p. 117). Breuer's designs were first marketed by the Swiss firm of Wohnbedarf, an enterprise set up to promote architect designed furniture and accessories for the home. Their range included work by Le Corbusier, Aalto, Breuer and the Swiss designers Flora and Alfred Steiger and Emil Roth. The Swiss company Embru (Eisen- und Metallbettenfabrik) were the main manufacturers for Wohnbedarf and in 1933 they persuaded Breuer to submit five of his designs, including the present design, to the international competition of the Best Aluminium Chair, sponsored by Alliance Aluminium Cie of France. Breuer's designs were awarded first prize by each of the two separate juries, one representing the aluminium industry, the other representing the International Congress of Modern Architecture.
The designs in the aluminium series met with great popular acclaim and formed the link between the tubular steel furniture of Breuer's time at the Bauhaus in Germany and the plywood furniture which he developed after his emigration to England between 1935 and 1937. It was at the suggestion of Walter Gropius that Breuer adapted his design for this aluminium chair to create the famous Long Chair for Isokon in 1936.