A set of three unusual Thonet B 34 armchairs designed by M. Breuer circa 1930 - 1931

1930's - 1990's Prof. dr. Josef Naas (1906 - 1993) of the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, Berlin (together with a.o. Mart Stam), thence by descent to the widow of his friend and colleague Prof. Lothar Kühne, thence by descent to Prof. dr. Uli Bohnen

Cf. A. von Vegesack, Deutsche Stahlrohrmöbel, München 1986; W. Möller & O. Macel, ein Stuhl macht Geschichte, München 1992

Marcel Breuer (1902 - 1981) started experimenting with tubular steel furniture as early as 1925, when he was still a teacher at the Bauhaus. Breuer constructed his famous 'Wassily' chair around the end of 1925, but already  a few months later the history of the tubular steel chair would take a dramatic turn with Mart Stam's introduction of the revolutionary cantilever chair. In the years to follow, Breuer, Stam, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and several other designers and architects would design numerous variations of tubular steel (cantilever) chairs, which were executed by various firms. Breuer's designs were initially produced by 'Standard Möbel', a Berlin company which he co-founded in 1926. However, Breuer's first cantilever designs would be produced by Thonet, which took over Standard Möbel in 1929. In the same year, Thonet introduced Breuer's B33 and B34 cantilever chairs, which first appear in the firm's catalogue of 1930 -1931. Several features of the chairs here offered for sale point towards the first years of production by Thonet: the red lacquer (in the first years, Thonet offered 17 different shades of lacquer including 'lackrot'), the long wooden armrests which follow the curve of the frame, the nuts and bolts of the construction and the termination of the frame at the connection with the back rest. The fact that the armrests have been lacquered as well is unusual, and could be of later date (as most of the original lacquer has been overpainted). Furthermore, the woven cane seats and backrests are highly unusual, resembling the woven seats designed in 1929 by Lilly Reich for the 'MR' chair of Mies van der Rohe. Although the cane weaving of the chairs here offered for sale seems to date from before 1945, it is uncertain whether it's original.