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.
Wassily Chair B3 by Marcel Breuer
By Cassina, Marcel Breuer
Located in Neuss, NW
The club armchair B3 was designed by Marcel Breuer in the years 1925-1926 when he was head of the carpenter’s workshop at the Bauhaus in Dessau. Until 1929 the chair was manufactured...
Stainless Steel, Chrome
CESCA Chair by Marcel Breuer 90s
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Ljubljana, SI
Cesca chair, 1990s Designer Marcel Breuer Country of producer: Italy Design Period: 1920 to 1949 Production Period: 1990s Style: Mid-Century, Classic, Modern Detailed Condition: Th...
Chrome
Four Cesca Chairs by Marcel Breuer for Gavina
By Marcel Breuer
Located in London, England
Cesca chairs, also known as Cesca-style chairs, are a type of modernist furniture design that has become an iconic piece of 20th-century design. They were created by the Hungarian-born American designer Marcel Breuer in the late 1920s. The name "Cesca" is derived from Breuer's daughter's name, Francesca. Cesca chairs are known for their minimalist and Bauhaus-inspired aesthetic. They represent the principles of the Bauhaus school, which emphasized functionality, simplicity, and the use of modern materials. Cesca chairs have achieved iconic status in the world of design and are considered classics of modernist furniture design. They are part of the permanent collections of many museums and are still in production by various furniture manufacturers. Set off four Cesca chairs finished in black by Marcel Breuer for Gavina SpA...
Steel
$4,320Sale Price / set|20% Off
H 32 in W 23.75 in D 22.5 in
Set of 6 Thonet Cesca Chairs by Marcel Breuer
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Pasadena, TX
Set of 6 Thonet Cesca chairs 1980s Set of four armchairs, model Cesca, designed by Marcel Breuer. Manufactured by Thonet circa 1981 Chrome cantilever fr...
Chrome
Cesca Armchair by Marcel Breuer, 1928
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Sagaponack, NY
A minimal Cesca armchair designed by Marcel Breuer featuring caned seat and back on a cantilevered tubular chrome frame. Originally from the Levy House...
Metal
$3,109 / set
H 31.11 in W 22.84 in D 18.51 in
Set of 4 Cesca Chairs by Marcel Breuer for Thonet, 1980s
By Marcel Breuer
Located in BERKEL EN RODENRIJS, NL
This vintage set of 4 Cesca chairs by Marcel Breuer for Thonet from the 1980s includes 2 B64 armchairs and 2 B32 side chairs. Designed in the late 1920s, the Cesca chair is considere...
Steel
$2,567Sale Price|35% Off
H 30 in W 22 in D 21 in
Rare Restored Marcel Breuer Rattan Back Chrome "cesca" Chairs By Virco, Set of 4
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Van Nuys, CA
Rare set of 4 Marcel Breuer rattan back chrome "Cesca" chairs by Virco. This rare variant of the Cesca chair features the rare Paul T. Frankl inspired rattan back with chrome legs. Marcel Breuer (1902-1981) vintage re-edition "Cesca" armchair by Virco. Cantilevered tubular chrome frame with maple and cane seats, backs, and arms, circa 1970, made in Italy. Cesca chair, named after his daughter Francesca, marries caning and hardwood Beech with the Industrial-age aesthetic of cantilevered tubular steel. Functional, simple, and distinctly modern. Cesca chair has no legs and it relies on support from the tensile properties of steel tubing. It uses non-reinforced steel tubing, thereby creating a free-swinging chair...
Rattan
'Cesca' B32 Side Chairs by Marcel Breuer for Gavina
By Marcel Breuer, Gavina
Located in Vlimmeren, BE
The B32 iconic side chair was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1927. For this design, Breuer was inspired by the cantilever chair of Mart Stam, who designed it already in 1926. The first...
Metal
Dining Chairs Style B32 by Marcel Breuer, Set of 6
By Marcel Breuer
Located in bruxelles, BE
Set of 6 chairs in wood, rattan and metal. Seat height: 46 cm. Wear due to time and age of the chairs. FOR SHIPPING, REQUEST US FOR RECEIVE THE BEST PRICE
Metal
Dining Chairs Style B32 by Marcel Breuer, Set of 8
By Marcel Breuer
Located in bruxelles, BE
Set of 8 chairs in wood, rattan and metal. Seat height: 47 cm. Wear due to time and age of the chairs. FOR SHIPPING, REQUEST US FOR RECEIVE THE BEST PRICE
Metal
