Marcel Breuer

(active 1920-1981)

Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. One of the most renowned representatives of modernism and brutalism, he had never stopped experimenting with forms, shapes, and materials, and, both as an artisan and a teacher, he preached the doctrine of conceptual understanding of architecture and design.

His name is inextricably connected to the Bauhaus school, where he entered as a student and subsequently became a teacher. In the 1920s, Breuer was mainly engaged in furniture design. It was then that he created the famous "Wassily" chair (1925), named after and in honor of the artist Wassily Kandinsky. "Wassily" was made of canvas and steel tubes, the use of which was inspired by the image of a bicycle handlebar. Based on this technology, Breuer created impressive models of console chairs and other pieces of tubular steel furniture. In the late 1920s, Breuer relocated to Berlin to pursue architecture, and later, for political reasons, he was forced to move to London. Inspired by the work of British modernists, Breuer created the Long Chair from plywood. The item was designed specifically for Isokon and soon became the company’s bestseller. In 1941, Breuer established a company of his own, focusing primarily on the design of dwelling houses.

Not only are Breuer’s masterpieces exhibited in the world’s greatest museums, but the museum buildings themselves, designed by the iconic master, have become true masterpieces of his. One of such projects is The Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan, better known as simply the Whitney. However, the architect's legacy is so great and precious that his works are not just exhibited in museums and galleries: whole films are shot based on them. So, the most famous documentary about Marcel Breuer and his legacy, "Breuer's Bohemia" by James Crump, includes lots of rare footage and interviews with the master.

Marcel Breuer is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable art makers of the XX century. Together with Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, and Piero Fornasetti, he defined the vector of development of true design and architecture and set the highest bar for subsequent generations all around the globe.