Pair of Mid-1970s Marcel Breuer Cesca Arm Chairs
About the Item
- Creator:Marcel Breuer (Designer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 32.5 in (82.55 cm)Width: 25.38 in (64.47 cm)Depth: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:Mid-1970s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Very nice condition with light darkening of chrome & minor scuffs commensurate with age.
- Seller Location:Chapel Hill, NC
- Reference Number:
Cesca Chair
Ubiquitous but never boring, the Cesca chair has defined casual elegance in the dining room since 1928. Designed by Marcel Breuer (1902–81) for the Austrian furniture maker Gebrüder Thonet, the original Cesca chair combines natural beechwood caning and modern tubular steel for a sensibility that celebrates both handicraft and industrialization. It’s a paragon of Bauhaus design, embodying the school’s “truth to materials” philosophy and adhering to the movement’s emphasis on mass production. In fact, the Cesca chair was the first-ever tubular steel frame chair with a caned seat to be mass produced — a breakthrough for furniture design.
Breuer got his start in architecture after dropping out of the painting program at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He began apprenticing with a Viennese architect and went on to join the Bauhaus movement in 1921, when he was just 19 years old, eventually becoming a master carpenter at the German arts school. While there, Breuer designed furniture for Sommerfeld House in Berlin, industrialist Adolf Sommerfeld’s private residence, which was conceived by architects Walter Gropius (the Bauhaus school’s founder) and Adolf Meyer. Not long afterward, Breuer’s experiments with tubular steel would yield his Wassily chair, named for his friend, painter and Bauhaus professor Wassily Kandinsky, as well as the Cesca.
Originally called the B32, Breuer renamed the chair in honor of his daughter, Francesca, when Italian manufacturer Gavina began producing it in the early 1960s. Knoll introduced the chair when it acquired Gavina in 1968 and continues to manufacture it today.
And while the Cesca chair’s silhouette has remained the same throughout the decades, Breuer himself later made minor modifications, including the implementation of a shallower curve to the back and the addition of a second piece of steel for the frame to account for both comfort and durability. With the Cesca’s cantilevered construction, Breuer’s design transcended that of the traditional four-legged dining chair, pushing the boundaries of what “everyday” could mean in furniture.
Marcel Breuer
The architect and designer Marcel Breuer was one the 20th century’s most influential and innovative adherents of modernism. A member of the Bauhaus faculty, Breuer — like such colleagues as the architects Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the artists and art theoreticians László Moholy-Nagy and Josef Albers — left Europe in the 1930s to champion the new design philosophy and its practice in the United States.
Born in Hungary, Breuer became a Bauhaus student in 1920 and quickly impressed Gropius, the German school’s founder, with his aptitude for furniture design. His early work was influenced by the minimalist Dutch design movement De Stijl — in particular the work of architect Gerrit Rietveld. In 1925, while he was head of the Bauhaus furniture workshop, Breuer realized his signature innovation: the use of lightweight tubular-steel frames for chairs, tables and sofas — a technique soon adopted by Mies and others. Breuer’s attention gradually shifted from design to architecture, and, at the urging of Gropius, he joined his mentor in 1937 on the faculty of Harvard and in an architectural practice.
In the 1940s, Breuer opened his own architectural office, and there his style evolved from geometric, glass-walled structures toward a kind of hybrid architecture — seen in numerous Breuer houses in New England — that pairs bases of local fieldstone with sleek, wood-framed modernist upper floors. In his later, larger commissions, Breuer worked chiefly with reinforced concrete and stone, as seen in his best-known design, the brutalist inverted ziggurat built in New York in 1966 as the home of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Breuer’s most famous furniture pieces are those made of tubular steel, which include the Wassily chair — named after Wassily Kandinsky and recognizable for its leather-strap seating supports — and the caned Cesca chair. Breuer also made several notable designs in molded plywood, including a chaise and nesting table for the British firm Isokon and a student furniture suite commissioned in 1938 for a dormitory at Bryn Mawr College. Whether in metal or wood, Breuer’s design objects are elegant and adaptable examples of classic modernist design — useful and appropriate in any environment.
Find vintage Marcel Breuer seating, storage cabinets and lighting on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Chapel Hill, NC
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Early 19th Century Country French Ladder-Back Arm ChairLocated in Chapel Hill, NCEarly 19th century country French ladder-back arm chair. Robust form, graduated ladder-back rails with charming returns & shaping of the arms. Va...Category
Antique Early 19th Century French Country Armchairs
MaterialsRush, Wood
- Circa 1830 English High Back Windsor Arm Chair, Yew WoodLocated in Chapel Hill, NCCirca 1830 English high back Windsor arm chair, yew wood. This sturdy, comfortable chair has desired "Christmas Tree" cut-outs in the back panels. Bold turnings. Well shaped arms & knuckles. Provenance: Derek Green...Category
Antique Mid-19th Century English Victorian Armchairs
MaterialsWood, Yew
- 1970s Set of 10 Mid-Century Modern English Side ChairsLocated in Chapel Hill, NC1970s set of 10 mid century modern side chairs, English. Teak with original red vinyl upholstered backs & seats. Stylishly molded legs, sides & backs. 19" d., 20" w., 30" h., 18" sea...Category
Mid-20th Century English Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsTeak
- Mid-20th Century Woodard Wrought Iron Table & 4 Arm ChairsBy Woodard Furniture Co.Located in Chapel Hill, NCMid-20th century Woodard wrought iron table & 4 arm chairs. Ivy motifs; scroll & roll arms. Black paint, weathered patina. Table: 47" dia., 29" h. Chairs: 24 5/8" w., 25" d., 35 1/4"...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Patio and Garden Furniture
MaterialsWrought Iron
- Early-Mid 18th Century Queen Anne Arm ChairLocated in Chapel Hill, NCEnglish country house Queen Anne arm chair, early-mid 18th century, oak. Gracious, well shaped shepherd's crook arms. Vasi-form backplat with whor...Category
Antique Mid-18th Century English Queen Anne Chairs
MaterialsOak
- 1970s, Chinese Mud Figure of WomanLocated in Chapel Hill, NCChinese, circa 1970s, mud figure from Wanjiang, Guangong province. A lovely woman in a winter fur trimmed coat holding a rabbit with a goat at her feet. Fin...Category
Late 20th Century Ceramics
MaterialsCeramic
- Pair Of Vintage Marcel Breuer Cesca Carver Chairs In Black, 1970sBy Marcel BreuerLocated in London, GBPair of vintage square back Marcel Breuer Cesca carver chairs with characterful patina to the frames. Perfect to complete a dining set or use as desk or lounge chairs.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsRattan, Beech
- Marcel Breuer Pair of Cesca Chairs, Italy, 1970sBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Naples, ITCesca chair designed by Marcel Breuer. Marcel Breuer conceived the first tubular steel chair in 1925, based on the tubular frame of a bicycle. His revolutionary Cesca chair, named af...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- Pair of 'Cesca' chairs by Marcel Breuer, 1980sBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Stockholm, SEPair of 'Cesca' chairs designed by Marcel Breuer, produced during the 1980s. Rare version with rattan. Good vintage condition. Please note: set of 3 available, listed price is for ...Category
Vintage 1980s German Bauhaus Armchairs
MaterialsRattan
- Marcel Breuer Cesca Chair Italy 1970sBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Čelinac, BAMarcel Breuer Cesca Chair Italy 1970sCategory
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- Set of 6 Thonet Cesca Chairs by Marcel BreuerBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Pasadena, TXSet of 6 Thonet Cesca chairs 1980s Set of four armchairs, model Cesca, designed by Marcel Breuer. Manufactured by Thonet circa 1981 Chrome cantile...Category
Vintage 1980s North American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsChrome
- Mid-Century Modern B64 Cesca Chair with Arms by Marcel Breuer, Italy, 1970sBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Marbella, ESChair model Cesca B64, with armrests. Chromed tubular structure, beechwood frames in black color and Viennese natural grid. Excellent condition in general both of the wooden frames, ...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Armchairs
MaterialsSteel
- Modern Fine 18 Karat Yellow Gold Rectangular Link BraceletLocated in Poitiers, FRBracelet in 18 karat yellow gold, eagle head hallmark. This fine pre-owned yellow gold bracelet features interlocking rectangular links. The clasp is a spring ring. Length : 18,5 cm ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Modern Bracelets
MaterialsGold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
- TIFFANY & Co. Platinum .12ct Solitaire Diamond Pendant NecklaceBy Tiffany & Co.Located in Los Angeles, CATIFFANY & Co. Platinum .12ct Solitaire Diamond Pendant Necklace Metal: Platinum Chain: 16" Pendant: 3.25mm wide Diamond: round brilliant diamond, carat total weight .12 Hallmark: "©...Category
2010s American Pendant Necklaces
MaterialsDiamond, Platinum
- GIA Certified Peter Suchy Diamond Halo Rose Gold Engagement RingBy Peter SuchyLocated in Stamford, CTPeter Suchy Vintage Inspired 14k rose gold halo Diamond engagement ring. GIA certified .51ct center Diamond F, SI1, surrounded by 0.25ct of F, VS full cut Diamonds. 1 round brillian...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Engagement Rings
MaterialsDiamond, 14k Gold, Rose Gold, Gold
- Van Cleef & Arpels Diamond Lapis Lazuli Bow Yellow Gold Pendant NecklaceBy Van Cleef & ArpelsLocated in Holland, PA18k Yellow Gold Diamond Lapis Lazuli Bow Necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels. With 20 diamond VVS1 clarity, G color total weight .10ct Details: Necklace Length: 15.5'' Pendant: 15mm x...Category
20th Century French Pendant Necklaces
MaterialsDiamond, Lapis Lazuli, 18k Gold
- Cartier Love Earring Yellow Gold 12mm SingleBy CartierLocated in Aventura, FLCartier LOVE single earring, yellow gold 750/1000. Diameter 12 mm. Sold individually. Details: Brand: Cartier Style: Love Earring Material: Yellow Gold (750/1000) Diameter: 12mm The...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Modernist Hoop Earrings
MaterialsYellow Gold