This chair was conceived during Breuer’s first years at the Bauhaus school in Weimar, and the remarkable design marks the first time he used a cantilevered frame. Its articulated and highly abstract sculptural composition, particularly the intersecting horizontal and vertical planes, attests to the profound influence of the Dutch movement De Stijl, and of the designer Gerrit Rietveld. The chair also represents an important series of collaborations between Breuer and the Bauhaus weaving workshops, led by Gunta Stölzl. The chair’s rigid structure and geometric rationalism is softened somewhat by the lengths of taut woven fabric and the off-set positioning of the wooden supports that allows for a gently sloping seat and reclined back.
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Credit Line:Purchase, Theodore R. Gamble Jr. Gift, in honor of his mother, Mrs. Theodore Robert Gamble, and Lita Annenberg Hazen Charitable Trust Fund, 1983
Object Number:1983.366
Beate Kramer, Basel (until 1958; sold in 1958 to MoMA); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1958–83; sold, Christie's, New York, October 1, 1983, no. 199, to MMA)
Baltimore. Walters Art Gallery. "Art Nouveau to Art Moderne: Twentieth-Century Decorative Arts from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 2–April 28, 1985, no catalogue.
Raleigh. North Carolina Museum of Art. "Art Nouveau to Art Moderne: Twentieth-Century Decorative Arts from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 22–August 11, 1985, unnum. brochure.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Deco and Modernism: Style Versus Idea," June 25, 1991–February 16, 1992, no catalogue.
New York. American Craft Museum. "Bauhaus Workshops: Fiber, Ceramics, Metals, Wood, Glass," June 30–October 9, 1994, unnum. brochure.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Century of Design, Part ll: 1925–1950," May 9–October 29, 2000, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Highlights from the Modern Design Collection: 1900–Present, Part II," May 23, 2011–July 1, 2012, no catalogue.
Hans M. Wingler. The Bauhaus: Weimar, Dessau, Berlin, Chicago. Rev. ed. (1st ed., 1962). Cambridge, Mass., 1969, p. 307, fig. c (unknown collection).
Peter Hahn and Christian Wolsdorff, ed. Bauhaus Archiv-Museum. Sammlungs-Katalog (Auswahl): Architektur, Design, Malerei, Graphik, Kunstpädagogik. Berlin, 1981, pp. 90–91, no. 153, ill. (Bauhaus Archiv-Museum collection).
Christopher Wilk. Marcel Breuer: Furniture and Interiors. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1981, pp. 24, 26, fig. 7 (MoMA collection), fig. 27 (same model with different fabric).
Margaret B. Caldwell. "Buying at Auction." Interior Design (December 1983), p. 78, ill.
R. Craig Miller in "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1983–1984. New York, 1984, pp. 110–11, ill.
Gary Tinterow et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 8, Modern Europe. New York, 1987, p. 131, colorpl. 109.
Joyce Tognini. "Contemporary Craft at the Met." American Craft 47 (April/May 1987), ill. p. 53 (color).
Otakar Máčel inMarcel Breuer: Design and Architecture. Ed. Alexander von Vegesack and Mathias Remmele. Exh. cat., Vitra Design Museum. Weil am Rhein, 2003, ill. p. 57 (color) (Vitra Design Museum collection).
Barry Bergdoll in Barry Bergdoll and Leah Dickerman. Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2009, p. 48, no. 97, fig. 24, ill. p. 104 (color).
Kay WalkingStick (American and Citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, born Syracuse, New York, 1935)
2004
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