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.
H 28.75 in W 31 in D 27 in
Pair of Early Wassily Chairs by Marcel Breuer for Knoll, Leather and Chrome
By Knoll, Marcel Breuer
Located in Buffalo, NY
Marcel Breuer's 1925 design is a widely recognized masterpiece of modern furniture, having long ago achieved iconic status. This pair of Wassily chairs date to the 1960s. The chrome...
Steel
H 23.23 in W 28.94 in D 26.38 in
Mid-Century Modern Pair of Armchairs in Chrome and Leather, Italy 1970s
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Rome, IT
Beautiful Mid-Century Modern pair of armchairs in a chrome structure and brown leather seating. Made in Italy in the 1970s.
Metal, Chrome
H 28.75 in W 30.71 in D 27.56 in
Original Pair of Wassily Armchairs by Marcel Breuer for Gavina, 1970s (Signed)
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Argelato, BO
Marcel Breuer, Wassilly Armchair for Gavina, Vintage Original Version, Italy 1970s (Signed) The Wassily armchair, one of the most iconic and sophisticated Bauhaus armchairs, designe...
Metal
H 29 in W 31 in D 28 in
"Wassily" Club Chairs B3 Designed by Marcel Breuer Set of Two Chrome & Leather
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Bloomfield Hills, MI
Wassily Club Chair by Marcel Breuer designed in 1925 - 26 for Knoll also known as the Model B3 chair. Breuer designed this chair while he was the head of the cabinet-making workshop at the Bauhaus, in Dessau, Germany. These chairs are in excellent condition and as strong and beautiful as when they were first created. Inspired by the frame of a bicycle and influenced by the constructivist theories of the De Stjil movement, Marcel Breuer was still an apprentice at the Bauhaus when he reduced the classic club chair to its elemental lines and planes, forever changing the course of furniture design. His revolutionary Wassily chair marries durable leather with the industrial-age aesthetic of cantilevered tubular steel. Functional, simple and distinctly modern. Protégé of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer embodied many of the School's distinctive concepts and was and one of the School's most famous students. He returned to teach carpentry from 1925-1928, during which he designed the tubular-steel furniture collection. His attention drifted towards architecture, and after practicing...
Chrome
H 28 in W 30 in D 26 in
Pair of Vintage Mid-Century Modern Black Leather Wassily Lounge Chairs for Knoll
By Stendig Co., Marcel Breuer, Knoll
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Pair of Vintage Mid-Century Modern Black leather wassily lounge chairs for Knoll. The Wassily lounge chair was designed by Marcel Breuer in Black full leather. Has flat caps on the e...
Steel, Chrome
H 33.08 in W 22.84 in D 25.99 in
Pair of Czech Bauhaus Armchairs, Marcel Breuer and Thonet, Chrome, Fabric, 1930s
By Thonet, Marcel Breuer
Located in Brandys nad Labem, Středočeský kraj
License Thonet according to the design of Marcel Breuer Fully restored. Armchairs, 2 pcs Style: Bauhaus. Period: 1930-1939. Material: Fabric and chrome-plated steel Source: C...
Chrome
H 29.53 in W 33.08 in D 26.38 in
Two Restored Bauhaus Armchairs, by M. Breuer for Thonet, Chrome, Czech, 1920s
By Thonet, Marcel Breuer
Located in Brandys nad Labem, Středočeský kraj
Model B35 This pair of armchairs represents the absolute pinnacle of global avant-garde design and stands as an icon of the Bauhaus style from the 1930s. This revolutionary 1928 des...
Steel, Chrome
H 28.75 in W 31 in D 25.5 in
Pr. Vintage Marcel Breuer Wassily Chairs in Brown Leather and Chrome circa 1970s
By Marcel Breuer
Located in New York, NY
Exceptional pair of Wassily lounge chairs, designed by Marcel Breuer, these examples are circa 1970's, probably made by Cassina, unsigned. The chairs feature dark brown leather uphol...
Chrome
H 28.75 in W 31 in D 27 in
Pair of Early 1960s Knoll Wassily Lounge Chairs by Marcel Breuer
By Knoll, Marcel Breuer
Located in Portland, OR
Original Knoll stickers intact! Pair of 1960’s Wassily Chairs production by Knoll International. The chairs have the original Knoll stickers and feature a gorgeous patina only achiev...
Chrome
H 28.35 in W 30.71 in D 26.78 in
B3 Wassily chairs by Marcel Breuer, 1960s, set of 2
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Correggio, IT
Pair of Wassily armchairs designed by Marcel Breuer made of black leather and chromed metal tubular frame. The Wassily B3 Chair is an icon of twentieth-century modernism, ideal for f...
Steel
Wassily Armchair by Marcel Breuer, Chrome & Black Leather, Italy, 1970
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Austin, TX
Armchair, Italian, produced by Gavina. This B3 armchair by Marcel Breuer features a bent chromed steel tubular construction and black stained...
Steel
Mid-Century Modern Armchair in White Leather & Chrome, France, 1960
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Austin, TX
Armchair in the manner of Marcel Breuer’s famous Wassily design. This chair is made of white leather and chromed steel in the iconic chair design.
Steel, Chrome
Vintage Klöber Armchairs, Black Leather & Chrome, Mid-Century, 1970
By Klöber
Located in Austin, TX
Pair of armchairs from Germany made with a tubular chrome cantilever frame and black leather upholstery. The armrests are also a black leather. These chairs are in very nice vintage ...
Chrome
Pair of French Vintage Adjustable "Chaises Longues"
Located in Austin, TX
Iconic French vintage adjustable chaises longue chair with chromed steel frame. Measurements are for the chair sitting at the maximum position for the given dimension. Very comfortab...
Chrome
French Period Mid-Century Modern Desk Chair, Leather and Chrome, Circa 1970
Located in Austin, TX
Desk chair from the mid-century modern period in France. This piece is made with a chrome structure and leather upholstery. The leather is a supple brown tone with extra cushion for ...
Chrome
Set of Four Modern Italian Armchairs, Red Leather & Chrome, 1980
Located in Austin, TX
Set of four armchairs in the original red leather upholstery with chrome bases. This very comfortable set is in excellent vintage condition.
Chrome
