Details

Title

Chaise Longue

Artist/Maker

Marcel Breuer (American, born Hungary), 1902-1981, designer and maker

Date

ca. 1936

Medium

Sycamore plywood and maple

Dimensions

32 3/4 x 22 x 60 inches

Credit

Purchase with funds from the Decorative Arts Acquisition Endowment and the Friends of the Decorative Arts

Accession #

2003.2

On View

Currently not on view

Marcel Breuer was widely considered the most talented student in the furniture workshop at the Bauhaus (the German art, architecture, and design school). He eventually opened an architectural practice in Berlin and worked in Zurich before leaving for England. Breuer designed this form for an exhibition of contemporary furniture in London in 1936. Inspired by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto’s furniture, Breuer experimented in England, creating a chaise longue composed of molded and cut plywood. For years he had been considering ideas of “lightness,” but this work continues explorations in comfort, discovering which position best supported the body. As one of the grand figures of modern architecture and design, Breuer had an illustrious architectural career in the United States, culminating in his final structure—Atlanta’s Central Library.