Wassily Chair

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Bauhaus Chair Breuer

Wassily Chair

The Wassily Chair, also known as the Model B3 Chair, is a celebrated piece of modern furniture design. Conceived by the Hungarian designer Marcel Breuer in 1925-1926 while he was an apprentice at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, the chair has become an iconic symbol of the Modernist movement in furniture design. Its innovative use of materials and minimalist aesthetic epitomize the Bauhaus ethos of functional beauty and the unity of art, craft, and technology.

Design and Construction

The Wassily Chair's design was revolutionary for its time, primarily due to Breuer's use of tubular steel for the frame—a material inspired by the handlebars of his Adler bicycle. This marked one of the first uses of tubular steel in furniture design, significantly influencing the development of modern furniture. The frame consists of seamless, polished chrome-finished steel tubes, which provide strength and resilience while maintaining a lightweight appearance. The chair's seat, backrest, and armrests are made from leather or canvas strips, stretched to provide a comfortable, form-fitting seat that both supports and adapts to the body of the sitter.

Inspiration and Name

Breuer was inspired by the constructivist theories of form and material that were prominent at the Bauhaus, aiming to create a piece of furniture that was both functional and aesthetically pleasing, without unnecessary decoration. The chair was not originally named after the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, who was a colleague of Breuer's at the Bauhaus. The name "Wassily" was only attributed to the chair decades later, by an Italian manufacturer who had begun producing the chair in the 1960s. The manufacturer believed that the chair had been designed for Kandinsky's personal use, a story that has since been debunked, but the name has endured.

Impact and Legacy

The Wassily Chair had a profound impact on the design and manufacture of furniture. It exemplified the Bauhaus principle of Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art, where every aspect of the design serves both functional and aesthetic purposes. The chair's innovative use of tubular steel paved the way for future designers to explore the material's possibilities, leading to the creation of other modernist furniture classics.

Today, the Wassily Chair is celebrated not only for its groundbreaking design but also for its role in the history of modern art and design. It is included in the collections of major museums around the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin. Its enduring popularity attests to the timeless appeal of its minimalist aesthetic and the visionary nature of Breuer's design.

See Also

• Bauhaus
• Modernist architecture
• Furniture design
• Marcel Breuer