Marcel Breuer was one of the most famous designers to come out of the Bauhaus. While most know him for his model B3 chair (also known as the Wassily chair), he had an incredibly fruitful career in architecture as well. Being considered by many Bauhaus faculty as Walter Gropius’ protege, it is no wonder he excelled in so many different disciplines.
Marcel Breuer was born on May 21, 1902, in Pécs, Hungary, a small town near the Danube River. I was unable to find much information from his early childhood, but do know he attended high school at Magyar Királyi Föreáliskola in Pecs. Soon after graduation, he began studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna where he was offered a scholarship. Unfortunately, he really disliked the program, and as a result quit within a few weeks to begin an apprenticeship with a Viennese architect. Breuer had always loved working with his hands, so he thought joining the cabinet making studio of the architect’s brother could be a great fit. After gaining some experience, he heard of a new school that was opened in Weimar Germany called the Bauhaus. Head up by the revolutionary architect and designer Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus was quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most progressive and innovative schools in the design education space. The Bauhaus ethos encouraged students to dabble in many disciplines, which seemed perfect for someone of Breuer’s interests. At age 18, in 1921, he moved to Weimar, Germany, to enroll at the school and further his studies of design. At the time he was one of the youngest students of the movement.
Soon after joining the school, Gropius came to recognize Breuer’s talents and within a year her was promoted to lead the carpentry shop. Here, Breuer would create furniture for Gropius’ sommerfeld house in Berlin, as well as a popular series of African and slatted chairs. At the Bauhaus, Breuer would also befriend one of the most well respected artists of this era, Wassily Kandinsky, who was a teacher in the foundations program at the Bauhaus and was instrumental in creating its identity and legacy. He also became close with the likes of Moholy Nagy, Paul Klee, and Josef Albers who helped form this designers eye in his early days. Breuer would later state that Klee was one of his most influential teacher’s in his development, alongside his high school geometry teacher.
After completing his studies at the Bauhaus in 1924, he temporarily moved to Paris to help get his name out there and grow his practice. His time in Paris would be short lived however, as he was called back to the newly renovated Bauhaus in Dessau in 1925 where he would develop some of his most iconic works.
During this time, Breuer mostly supported himself with a number of furniture designs, most well known of which was the Model B3 chair, later re named as the Wassily chair after Kandinsky gave him high praises for his initial prototype. This chair was revolutionary in the furniture space, utilizing a brand new method of production inspired by bicycle handle bars. As an avid cyclist, Wassily was hugely inspired by the bent metal handlebar forms that were frequently in his line of sight. He wondered how this method of production could be brought to furniture, and as a result began exploring forms. He would eventually come to create one of the most iconic chairs of the era, the aforementioned Wassily chair. This chair, initially produced by the Italian firm Gavina, is still on the market today and is currently being produced by the furniture icon Miller Knoll.
In 1926, Breuer would marry his fellow Bauhaus Alumni Marta Erps. Breuer’s parents were both Jewish, so unfortunately he was forced to renounce his faith before the marriage due to the growing anti-semitism of the era.
Unfortunately, Breuer was beginning to realize that many of his architectural concepts were remaining just that at the Bauhaus, concepts. As a result, In 1928 at the age of 26 he left the Bauhaus to establish his own architectural office in Berlin. He was largely supported by royalties from the sale of his chairs during this era.
Unfortunately, itt was an increasingly difficult time to establish a firm. With growing tensions throughout Germany due to the approach of WWII and the growth of the Nazi Party, it was difficult to find work. He did manage to secure a few commissions however, one of which was the Dolderthal apartments in Zurich for Sigfried Gideon in 1934.
With Germany becoming an increasingly hostile environment, Breuer took Gropius’ suggestion to move to London in 1935. While in London, Breuer worked for Jack Pritchard at the Isokon company. The Isokon Company was one of the earliest proponents of modernism in the UK. Here, Breuer designed his Long Chair and experimented with bent and formed plywood, inspired by designs by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
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Marcel Brer was one of the most famous designers to come out of the bow house well most know him for his model B3 chair also known as the wasili chair he had an incredibly fruitful career in architecture as well being considered by many bow house faculty as Walter gropius’s Protege it’s no wonder he excelled in so many different disciplines Marcel Brer was born on May 21st 1902 in PEX Hungary a small town near the danu river uh I was unable to find too much information on on his early childhood I do know that he attended high school at I’m not even going to try to pronounce that so I’ll just let Google translate do so soon after graduation he began studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna where he was offered a scholarship unfortunately he really disliked the program and as a result quit within a few weeks to begin an apprenticeship with a viene architect Brier had always loved working with his hands so he thought joining the cabinet making Studio of the architect’s brother would be a great fit after gaining some experience he heard of a new school that was opened in viar Germany called the bow house head up by the Revolutionary architect and designer Walter gropius the bow house was quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most Progressive and Innovative schools in the design education space the bow house ethos encouraged students to dabble in many disciplines which seem perfect for someone of breer’s interests at age 18 in 192 21 he moved to vimar Germany to enroll at the school and further his studies of design at the time he was one of the youngest students of the movement soon after joining the school gropius came to recognize breer’s talents and within a year he was promoted to lead the carpentry shop here Brer would create furniture for gropius’s Summerfield house in Berlin as well as a popular series of African and slatted chairs at the bow house Brer would also befriend one of the most well-respected artists of this era wasil Kandinsky who was a teacher in the foundations program at the bow house and was instrumental in creating its identity and Legacy he also became close with the likes of maholi Nagi Paul CLE and Joseph alers who helped form this designer’s eye in his early days Brer would later state that CLE was one of the most influential teachers in his development alongside his high school geometry teacher after completing his studies at the bow house in 1924 he temporarily moved to Paris to help get his name came out there and grow his practice his time in Paris would be shortlived however as he was called back to the newly renovated bow house in desau in 1925 where he would develop some of his most iconic works during this time Brer mostly supported himself with a number of furniture designs most well-known of which was the model B3 chair later renamed as the wasili chair after Kandinsky gave him high praises for his initial prototype this chair was revolutionary in the furniture space utilizing a brand new method of production inspired by bicycle handlebars as an avid cyclist vili was hugely inspired by the vent metal handlebar forms that were frequently in his line of sight he wondered how this method of production could be brought to furniture and as a result began exploring forms he would eventually come to create one of the most iconic chairs of the era the a forementioned wasili chair this chair initially produced by the Italian firm gavina is still on the market today and is currently being produced by the furniture icon Miller null unfortunately Brer was beginning to realize that many of his architectural Concepts were remaining just that at the bow house Concepts as a result in 1928 at the age of 26 he left the bow house to establish his own architectural office in Berlin He was largely supported by royalties from the S of his chairs during this era unfortunately it was an increasingly difficult time to establish a firm with growing tensions throughout Germany due to the approach of World War II and the growth of the Nazi party it was difficult to find work he did manage to secure a few commissions however one of which was the doer Thal apartments in Zurich for sreed Gideon in 1934 with Germany becoming an increasingly hostile environment however Brer took gropius’s suggestion to move to London in 1935 while in London Bry worked for Jack Pritchard at the isacon Company the isacon company was one of the earliest proponents of modernism in the UK here Brer designed his long chair and experimented with bent inform formed plywood inspired by designs by Finnish architect Alvar Alto many others during this period were experimenting with materials like this as well notably Ray and Charles E having created the iconic e chair also available today through Miller after a successful early career Brer was invited to join the har Graduate School of Design as a chairman alongside his mentor Walter gropius in 1937 here the two men partnered up and would completely revolutionize modern American housing they had a number of influential students who helped further spread their ethos including Paul Rudolph Elliot noes imay wrick Franzen John Johansson and Philip Johnson one of the most intact examples of breer’s furniture and interior design work during this period is is the Frank house in Pittsburgh designed with gropius as a gasum Kum work or total work of art in English Brer broke with his father figure Walter gropius in 1941 likely to begin to establish his own name in the space as he often felt overshadowed by him making it hard to establish his own practice soon after Bryer designed the Geller house which was built in 1945 but unfortunately demolished in 2022 it was one of the first to utilize breer’s con concept of a bclear house having separate wings for bedrooms in common areas like living and dining rooms each was separated by an entry hall and covered by what would come to be known as the butterfly roof two opposing surfaces that would be centrally drained this idea would become common in a number of modernist houses of this era after marrying their at the time Secretary constant Crocker Leighton in spending a few more years in Cambridge Brer moved to New York City to start a new career in 1946 here he came to establish a practice he would grow for the rest of his life alongside his chief draftsman Harry seedler breer’s time in New York yielded a number of iconic works and is where he would gain a majority of his architectural clients after Breaking Free from gropius’s Shadow soon after this move Brer built two houses for himself in new Canan Connecticut between the years of 1947 and 1952 in 1949 he set up a demonstration house in the MoMA which caused a flurry of interest in his work as an architect as well as an appreciation written by Peter Blake a prominent figure in the pop art movement when the show was over the house in the garden was dismantled and barged up the Hudson River to be reassembled on the Rockefeller property Kik cute in pocano Hills New York in 1948 Brer created the Aron Club in Mar del Plata which would be his only work in Latin America following the success of these homes Brer got the chance to design some significant institutional buildings including the UNESCO headquarters in Paris France which finished Construction in 1955 in the monastic master plan church at St John’s Abbey in Minnesota surprisingly it was gropius who recommended Brer for this job even after their Fallout stating that the job required a younger architect to see it through these commissions were a turning point in breer’s career moving from Furniture Design in small residential projects to much larger ones for was a progressive not just in terms of design but socially as well like many of his fellow B house Associates he came to employ the first African-American woman to be licensed as an architect in the US Beverly lorine green she is credited as the drafts person on a number of broers projects including the Gross Point Public Library which was constructed during the 1950s Brer saw through the construction of the Whitney Museum of American art located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1966 the Whitney collection remained in this location from 1966 to 2014 after I moved to a new building designed by Renzo Piano at 99 Gavin stor Street in the West Village uh meat packing District this was another of Royer’s iconic works of the period helping solidify him as a household name in the architectural space in 1968 the construction of one of breer’s more controversial buildings was completed this was for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development well it received Reed some initial praise it would eventually come to be criticized by many one critic former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp once described the building as 10 floors of basement another former secretary Shan Donovan stated that the building itself is among the most reviled in all of Washington and with good reason many critics have argued that breer’s design is unoriginal and copies the UNESCO headquarters in IBM Research Center which he designed several years ago earlier well I’ve never stepped foot in the building I can guess based on the ratio of concrete to Glass that this may be true the exterior form created while beautiful I can imagine uh less than a disappointing amount of light this project is in stark contrast to his mentor gropius’s work which utilized dominantly glass exteriors to fill the space with natural light and bring the inhabitant Closer To Nature throughout his nearly 30-year architectural career Brer designed nearly 100 buildings all in some way or another embodying the spirit of the bow house he was one of the most prolific spreaders of the movement in 1968 Brer was awarded the gold medal of the American Institute of Architects at their 100th annual convention in Portland Oregon the timing of this award was actually quite ironic as it coincided with vast criticism of him as an architect at the time he was in the process of Designing a multi-story office building that was plannned to sit top New York City’s beloved Grand Central Terminal if this project had gone through breer’s Legacy could look much different to us today due to how so many Cherish The Landmark that is Grand Central Terminal well I personally probably wouldn’t design something like Grand Central I can absolutely appreciate its beauty and its spot in American history and uh I totally understand why he receiv received so much criticism for his decision to take part in this project after costing Brer many friends and supporters the US Supreme Court actually shut down the project and established the right of New York and other cities to protect their landmarks Brer would rarely acknowledge the influence of other Architects work on his own but he certainly was inspired by his contemporaries such as the use of rough broad form concrete from leier additionally his second new Canan house seems to have directly descended from me Barcelona Pavilion one could argue that the teachings of the bow house movement of which these designers had all been a part of could lead them to similar architectural conclusions however this is a broader criticism of modernism as a whole in my opinion as many think its rigidity of the idea that formfile as function leads designers to similar and often repetitive States I personally don’t buy into this idea as the diversity in designs from this era are quite evident in my opinion but I can understand the criticism shortly before his death he told an interviewer that that he considered his principal contribution to have been the adaption of the work of older Architects to the need of modern society he passed in his apartment in Manhattan in 1981 leaving behind his wife Connie and his son Thomas with his permission his Partners kept his offices going in his name in Paris and New York for several years after they would all come to retire however the offices came to a close Brer was certainly one of the most influential designers to come out of the bow house while his career in design contributions faced some criticism in his later years in my opinion that was largely due to the timing of those Works postmodernism was beginning to rise as a prominent style which was in stark contrast to many of his core ideologies today many of breer’s works are widely regarded as icons of modernism be it his furniture or buildings and he’s widely respected as an architect and designer by many so that pretty much wraps it up for this video about Marcel Brer one of the bow house icons one of the most famous Architects and designers to come out of the bow house I had a really great time researching Marcel Brer and learning a little bit more about his history and breadth of work and uh hope you guys enjoyed following along and seeing the research that I came up with if you like seeing design documentary style videos like this um I’m trying to post more of them on this channel so it’d be awesome if You’ subscribe um and if you enjoyed this video or found it interesting in any way would be really helpful if you left a like um but other than that I really appreciate you guys hanging around this far if you made it to this point in the video and um yeah like I said thanks so much for watching and I’ll catch you in the next one later