Marcel Breuer

Background

Marcel Breuer (1902–1981) was born in Pécs, Hungary. A protégé of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, he was a student and then master carpenter at the Bauhaus in the early 1920s. He later worked in London for Isokon before emigrating to the United States in 1937, where he taught at Harvard's School of Design under Gropius.

Signature Style

His work embodies the Bauhaus aim to reconcile art and industry. At the Bauhaus he revolutionised the modern interior with tubular-steel furniture inspired by bicycle construction and fabricated with plumbers' techniques; his architecture later turned to bold, sculptural concrete.

Notable Works

• Wassily Chair (1925), Cesca chair and Laccio tables
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (begun 1963)
• UNESCO Headquarters, Paris (1955) and Saint John's Abbey, Minnesota

Legacy

The first architect to have a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although he never worked directly for Knoll, he mentored Florence Knoll in Gropius's office in the 1930s and recommended textile director Eszter Haraszty. His furniture collection, sold to Gavina, motivated Knoll to acquire Gavina in 1968.