Pair of Mid-Century Modern Marcel Breuer Chrome Wassily Chair Frames, circa 1950
View Similar Items
Pair of Mid-Century Modern Marcel Breuer Chrome Wassily Chair Frames, circa 1950
About the Item
- Creator:Marcel Breuer (Maker)
- Dimensions:Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 28 in (71.12 cm)Depth: 29 in (73.66 cm)Seat Height: 17 in (43.18 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1950
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Frames in very good condition; vinyl straps in need of repair or replacement.
- Seller Location:Big Flats, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: 618131stDibs: LU239636819883
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.
- Mid Century Danish Modern Thomasville Walnut & Faux Leather Sofa & Chair 20thCBy ThomasvilleLocated in Big Flats, NYA Mid Century Danish Modern seating set by Thomasville includes settee and chair and offers walnut frame with leatherette upholstered seats, backs and arms, Founders as labeled, 20th...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsFaux Leather, Walnut
$1,560 Sale Price / set20% Off - Vintage Pair of English Style Button Back Upholstered Club Chairs, 20th CenturyLocated in Big Flats, NYA vintage pair of English style club chairs offers upholstered uppers with button backs and raised on square and straight legs, 20th century ...Category
20th Century Club Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Wood
$1,320 Sale Price / set20% Off - Mid-Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Double Bed, Wheat Finish, circa 1950By Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Big Flats, NYA Mid-Century Modern double or full size bed by Heywood Wakefield offers birch construction in Wheat finish, maker and finish marks as photographed, circa 1950 Measures- Headboa...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsBirch
$1,160 Sale Price20% Off - Set of 12 Vintage Hepplewhite Style Slat Back Mahogany Dining Chairs, circa 1930Located in Big Flats, NYA set of twelve vintage Hepplewhite style dining chairs offer mahogany construction with slat backs over upholstered seats and raised on tapered square legs, includes one armchair an...Category
20th Century American Hepplewhite Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany
$2,176 Sale Price / set20% Off - Mid-Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Double Bed Frame, Wheat Finish, Circa 1950By Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Big Flats, NYA Mid-Century Modern double bed frame by Heywood Wakefield offers birch construction in Wheat finish, maker mark as photographed, c1950 Measures- Headboard 35''H x 59''W x 2''D; Foo...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsBirch
$960 Sale Price20% Off - Mid Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Two Door Bookcase in Wheat Circa 1950By Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Big Flats, NY***Ask About Reduced In-House Shipping Rates - Reliable Service & Fully Insured*** Mid Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Bookcase with Upper Shelf over Double Door Blind Cabinet in Wh...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Bookcases
MaterialsBirch
$1,160 Sale Price20% Off
- 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
- Pair of Marcel Breuer CESCA styled Mid Century Modern DINING CHAIRSBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Weehawken, NJMarcel Breuer Cesca styled Mid Century Modern dining chairs, a Pair. The frames are constructed of tubular steel and the caned backs are unbroken and lovely, with finger joint...Category
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsWood, Cane
- According To Marcel Breuer - Wassily B3 ChairBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Beaune, FRSuperb Wassily chair with original cognac leather and tubular structure in folded and chromed metal. This chair is a reissue around 1970. It is in very good condition, no stains or oxidation. The Wassily...Category
Antique 19th Century French Chairs
MaterialsMetal
Unavailable$2,174 - Mid Century Wassily Chair By Marcel BreuerBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Chino Hills, CAFor sale is a genuine mid-century Wassily Chair, a remarkable piece from the iconic designer Marcel Breuer. This chair is a testament to the enduring appeal of mid-century design, sh...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- Pair of Marcel Breuer Cesca Chairs, circa 1960By Marcel BreuerLocated in Barcelona, BarcelonaSet of two chairs, model Cesca, designed by Marcel Breuer circa 1960, by unknown manufacturer. Metal pipe frame, wood seat and back structure and rattan. In good condition, with ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Mid-Century Modern Italian Set of Chrome and Black Cesca Chair by Marcel BreuerBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Prato, ITMid-Century Modern Italian set of 3 chrome cantilever Cesca chair with black lacquered wood profiles by Marcel Breuer. The chairs are in really good ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome