Marcel Breuer

Sotheby's London, 30 September 2015, (Lot 223)

Private collection, United Kingdom

Jan van Geest and Otakar Macel, Stuhle Aus Stahl, Metallmobel, 1925-1940, Cologne 1980, p. 34

Christopher Wilk, Marcel Breuer Furniture and Interiors, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1981, pp. 127, 145

Magdalena Droste, Manfred Ludewig and Bauhaus Archiv, Marcel Breuer Design, Cologne, 1994, pp. 29, 132-133

Charlotte and Peter Fiell, eds., Decorative Art - 1930s & 1940s, Cologne, 2000, pp. 319, 384

Alexander von Vegesack and Mathias Remmele, Marcel Breuer Design and Architecture, Weil am Rhein, 2003, pp. 114-115, 139,159

Christopher Wilk, Plywood A Material Story, London, 2017, front cover

The Isokon Furniture Company was co-founded by Londoner Jack Pritchard in 1935 to promote modern furniture design within the United Kingdom. A follower and devotee of the design principles and aesthetics of the Bauhaus, Pritchard successfully invited Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus, to relocate to London in 1934, with Marcel Breuer following shortly thereafter in 1935. An employee of the Venesta Plywood Company, Pritchard envisioned executing this material on modern designs: ‘The principal material to be used in the preliminary work must be plywood…The furniture will be primarily useful and its aesthetic qualities will be due to its form rather than superimposed ornament…’

On the suggestion of Gropius, then the Controller of Design for Isokon, the first design for the firm was to be a reclining lounge chair designed by Breuer. The initial design was based off of an earlier aluminium chaise Breuer had designed in circa 1932. The transition of material from metal to wood was difficult, forcing Breuer to make multiple modifications to the design to suit the new material. An upholstered cushion was covering the seat. The model is held within the permanent collections internationally, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.