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Lot Essay
Cf: Christie's South Kensington, Modern Design, 3 July 1997, lot 20, example of the chaise version
During his brief but productive stay in Britain from 1935-1939, Breuer produced a skilled portfolio of plywood furniture designs for the Isokon Furniture Company. Whilst the Isokon furniture is adequately documented, there remains less precision over the designs that Breuer produced as a result of his brief and apparantly unprofitable liaison with London retailer Heal's & Son. Breuer is known to have produced several designs around 1936-38, including an upholstered chaise longue, however contemporary photographs of these designs are scarce, suggesting that the designs were not successfully received. The pair of chairs offered in this lot exhibit proportional, stylistic, and constructional similarities to the chaise longue model. Breuer's brief experimentation with cut-out plywood shapes during this period was to provide the basis for the development of his aesthetic vocabulary upon his emigration to the United States in 1939.
During his brief but productive stay in Britain from 1935-1939, Breuer produced a skilled portfolio of plywood furniture designs for the Isokon Furniture Company. Whilst the Isokon furniture is adequately documented, there remains less precision over the designs that Breuer produced as a result of his brief and apparantly unprofitable liaison with London retailer Heal's & Son. Breuer is known to have produced several designs around 1936-38, including an upholstered chaise longue, however contemporary photographs of these designs are scarce, suggesting that the designs were not successfully received. The pair of chairs offered in this lot exhibit proportional, stylistic, and constructional similarities to the chaise longue model. Breuer's brief experimentation with cut-out plywood shapes during this period was to provide the basis for the development of his aesthetic vocabulary upon his emigration to the United States in 1939.