6 Marcel Breuer chairs 1970s
About the Item
- Creator:Marcel Breuer (Designer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 31.5 in (80 cm)Width: 24.41 in (62 cm)Depth: 19.69 in (50 cm)Seat Height: 17.72 in (45 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 6
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Den Haag, NL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2783339047042
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: Den Haag, Netherlands
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- B34 Cantilever Chairs, Marcel Breuer Design, Bauhaus Chairs, Italy 80By Marcel BreuerLocated in Den Haag, NLPair of iconic B34 chairs was made in Italy in the ’80s. Rare model without leather on armrests. Very good seating comfort. Marcel Breuer design. Very goo...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Bauhaus Chairs
MaterialsLeather
- Chiavari solid Brass Chair 1970s ItalyBy ChiavariLocated in Den Haag, NLVery nice Solid Brass Chiavari signature Chair . Looking great in front of your Desk . 1970s Italy Please don't hesitate to reach out for alternative shipping quoteCategory
Vintage 1970s Italian Hollywood Regency Chairs
MaterialsBrass
- pair Mart stam S33 cantilever chairs 1970sBy Mart StamLocated in Den Haag, NLTwo Original White Leather cantilever chair . Chrome Tube frame. 1970s Pioneering Dutch modernist architect-designer Mart Stam (1899-1...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsLeather
- Chiavari Chair 1950s ItalyBy ChiavariLocated in Den Haag, NLVery nice elegant Chiavari chair. comes with the sort after Caned seat. In a Gold color. all original. very rare with its original guaranty label underneath very good condition.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsWicker
- Italian Folding Chair in the Style of Gae Aulenti's 'April' ChairBy Gae AulentiLocated in Den Haag, NLFolding chair upholstered in brown corduroy inspired by Gae Aulenti's 'April' design. Made in Italy, 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsFabric
- Tube frame lounge chairs Scandinavian 1970sBy IKEALocated in Den Haag, NLTwo Tube frame lounge chairs .Comes with the original cushions. like the Pop art print on these , good condition . on a Canvas base . These Chairs are demountable , so very easy to...Category
Vintage 1970s Scandinavian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Marcel Breuer Cesca Chair Italy 1970sBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Čelinac, BAMarcel Breuer Cesca Chair Italy 1970sCategory
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- 1970s Marcel Breuer White Leather Wassily ChairBy Marcel BreuerLocated in San Gabriel, CA30" height x 30" width x 25" depth 1970s Bauhaus Marcel Breuer Wassily Chair. Some light scuffs, worn leather. The tubing as a continuous piece and the ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- 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
- Set of Four Cesca Chair By Marcel Breuer Italy 1970sBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Čelinac, BACesca Chair Set of Four By Marcel Breuer Italy 1970sCategory
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- Set of Two After Marcel Breuer Cesca Chairs Italy 1970sBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Čelinac, BAMarcel Breuer Cesca Chairs Set of Two Italy 1970sCategory
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- Marcel Breuer for Gavina Set of Four Cesca Chairs, Italy 1970sBy Marcel Breuer, GavinaLocated in Naples, ITGroup of four chairs Mod. Cesca by Marcel Lajos Breuer for Gavina - Italy - with original label. Walnut backrest, chromed steel tubular frame and Vienna straw. Breuer's Cesca chair h...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- 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