A painted tubular metal stool from the Bauhaus Canteen, Dessau

DESIGNED BY MARCEL BREUER IN 1926, MADE BY BAUHAUS METALWORKERS AT THE JUNKERS FACTORY, DESSAU, CIRCA 1926

Details
A painted tubular metal stool from the Bauhaus Canteen, Dessau
Designed by Marcel Breuer in 1926, made by Bauhaus metalworkers at the Junkers factory, Dessau, circa 1926
Cream-painted wood top, the metal frame pink-painted, traces of original silver painted finish visible on innermost paint layer.
18in. (45.8cm) high
Provenance
Previously in the possession of the artist and former Bauhaus student Karl Klode. It was acquired by Klode from the Bauhaus canteen at the time of the school's closure by the Nazis in 1932.

Lot Essay

Although Breuer's 'Wassily' chair, first conceived in 1925, is acknowledged as his first experiment in tubular steel, the present stool was quick to follow, and has an important place in the history of Breuer's innovative designs for simple functional furniture. Breuer's earliest experiments with tubular steel as a medium for furniture took place not, as is often stated, in the Bauhaus workshops, but in the neighbouring Junkers aircraft factory. This is confirmed by Marianne Brandt who recalled that, after the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, '..Marcel Breuer and Max Krajewski explored various types of tubular steel during this period. These trials did not take place at the Bauhaus..but at several different factories in Dessau. The new Bauhaus building and the surrounding industry directly inspired us to seek an association with these firms...As far as I can recall, Breuer and Gropius produced their first examples of tubular steel furniture at the Junkers factory, while the carpentry workshop made their furniture in a small wood and furniture factory in Aken.... The contact with the Dessau industry gave us a new stimulus for our work at the Bauhaus and was of considerable importance'. Hence it was only with the support of the Junkers factory and the use of their machines that Breuer was able to produce and further develop his designs in tubular steel. The Junkers workshop was in fact the only factory in the Dessau area which had the technical equipment capable of producing angled tubular steel.
The present design was one of Breuer's own favourites, and was used throughout the Bauhaus buildings including the Master's house, both as a stool and a low table. As well as being his favourite, it was arguably his most innovative and versatile; Breuer later adapted the design to create a nest of tables, which were manufactured by Standard Möbel from 1927, and then Thonet, as Model B9.
The tubular metal frame of the early canteen stools were silver- painted, not chrome or nickel-plated as in the ensuing production models. The wooden tops were painted in a variety of different colours, in keeping with Bauhaus principles. Although re-painted over time, the present stool still bears traces of its original paint at the innermost layer on both the frame and the top.
See: Stahlrohrstuhl: Sein Entwicklungsweg durch Industriedesign, Dessau, 1986, p. 10, Brandt's recollections published.
For details of the present stool, see:
Van Geest and Mácel, p. 65. no. 10
Wilk, (Breuer), p. 44, fig. 30.
Experiment Bauhaus, exh. cat. no. 105a, p.106.
Ostergard (ed.), exh. cat. no. 68, p. 272.
Droste and Ludewig, p. 70.

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