Marcel Breuer B35 Lounge Chair by Thonet Circa 1930s

Marcel Breuer B35 Lounge Chair by Thonet circa 1930s

Stunning Bauhaus design Marcel Breuer B35 armchair by Thonet Germany circa 1930s, the cantilever frame with original tan leather seat, wooden armrests with a chromed tubular steel frame, a classic timeless design that seems to get better with age.

Background
Born on 22 May 1902 in Pécs in Hungary, Marcel Breuer studied at the Staatliche Bauhaus Dessau from 1920 to 1924, after he quit studying art. After a short stay in Paris he took over the direction of the carpentry workshop at the Bauhaus, which had meanwhile moved to Dessau, from 1925-1928. During this time, he was strongly influenced by constructivism and De Stijl and developed a few trendsetting furniture designs made of tubular steel. In 1928, Breuer moved to Berlin, where he mainly worked in the field of interior design. In 1931 he went on several journeys, before working on a wide range of aluminium furniture designs in Switzerland starting in 1932.

In 1935, Marcel Breuer moved to London, where he worked as an architect. In 1937 he was awarded a professorship for architecture at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA), where he later founded an architectural office together with Walter Gropius. In 1946, Marcel Breuer established his own studio in New York and realised numerous designs in Europe and the US. He is considered one of the most important architects and designers of modernism.

Marcel Breuer died on 1 July 1981 in New York. In 1925, Marcel Breuer started his first furniture experiments with cold bent tubular steel. He experimented with the principle of the flexing chair without back legs, a principle that became popular under the term "cantilever", which goes back to a design by Dutch architect Mart Stam from 1926. Breuer predicted that it would feel "like sitting on flexible pillars of air". The simple tubular steel furniture designs by Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Mart Stam and others revolutionised furniture design with their clear formal language and excellently fit in with the modern architecture of the time.

Marcel Breuer's tubular steel furniture designs are considered classics today and can be found in the most important design collections worldwide.

Creator: Marcel Breuer
Model B35 Cantilever Chair
Original
Manufacturer: Thonet
Bauhaus
Date of Manufacture: 1930s
Provenance: Private Collection
Materials: Chrome & Leather
Investment