Lot Essay
Marcel Breuer entered the Bauhaus in 1920 as a student and graduated there in 1924. He returned in 1925 to become head of the carpentry workshop, remaining until 1928 when he left not to return.
In 1923 Rietveld exhibited his furniture at the Bauhaus exhibtion, but by then the influence of De Stijl was already strong among Bauhaus designers and is nowhere seen more clearly than in Breuer's armchair in wood and canvas designed in 1922. The design of the tubular steel 'Wassily' chair is closely related to this 1922 Breuer design.
In 1925 Breuer had purchased his first bicycle and was so impressed by its lightness and strength that he had the brilliant idea of using tubular steel for furniture. His first experimental tubular steel piece was the club-type armchair, the design was worked on and the finished version was not produced until 1927. Writing about it in 1927 he said: "It is my most extreme work both in its outward appearance and in the use of materials; it is the least artistc, the most logical, the least 'cosy' and the most mechanical".
It became known as the 'Wassily' chair because of Kandinsky's admiration for it.
A limited number of club armchairs was produced in 1925. In this early version of the chair nickled steel was used. Only a few known examples of this early version exist. In later years the design was adapted. The chair was made of chrome-plated tubes of steel and a strengthening bar was added near the base.
The chair illustrated in Christopher Wilk's book (fig. 24), Breuer considered to be his 'final' version. The chair sold her seems to relate very closely to this version.
See colour illustration
In 1923 Rietveld exhibited his furniture at the Bauhaus exhibtion, but by then the influence of De Stijl was already strong among Bauhaus designers and is nowhere seen more clearly than in Breuer's armchair in wood and canvas designed in 1922. The design of the tubular steel 'Wassily' chair is closely related to this 1922 Breuer design.
In 1925 Breuer had purchased his first bicycle and was so impressed by its lightness and strength that he had the brilliant idea of using tubular steel for furniture. His first experimental tubular steel piece was the club-type armchair, the design was worked on and the finished version was not produced until 1927. Writing about it in 1927 he said: "It is my most extreme work both in its outward appearance and in the use of materials; it is the least artistc, the most logical, the least 'cosy' and the most mechanical".
It became known as the 'Wassily' chair because of Kandinsky's admiration for it.
A limited number of club armchairs was produced in 1925. In this early version of the chair nickled steel was used. Only a few known examples of this early version exist. In later years the design was adapted. The chair was made of chrome-plated tubes of steel and a strengthening bar was added near the base.
The chair illustrated in Christopher Wilk's book (fig. 24), Breuer considered to be his 'final' version. The chair sold her seems to relate very closely to this version.
See colour illustration