Marcel Breuer

MARCEL BREUER (Hungary, 1902 - United States, 1981).
Set of four "Cantilever" chairs Italy, 1970s.
Cognac colored metal and leather.
In very good condition.
Measurements: 78 x 56 x 58 cm (x4).
This set of four Italian cognac-colored leather chairs, model "Cantilever" attributed to Marcel Breuer, is part of this tradition, with a production dating back to the 1970s.
Each chair rests on a tubular chrome-plated steel frame that forms a cantilevered base, an emblematic signature of the Bauhaus vocabulary. The seat, backrest and armrests are covered in original cognac leather, tightened and held in place by visible metal fasteners. The flexibility of the leather responds to the rigidity of the structure, creating that characteristic balance between comfort and architectural rigor.
Marcel Breuer was a Hungarian architect and designer, one of the main masters of the Modern Movement, very interested in modular construction and simple forms. He studied at the Bauhaus in Weimar at the time when it was directed by Walter Gropius, and later he would take charge of the furniture workshop of this school. There he designed the B3 chair, later known as the Wassily chair, made in 1925, the first tubular steel chair in history, which combined the flexible conditions of this material with its ease of large-scale industrial production. Breuer would continue at the Bauhaus until 1928, when he settled in Berlin to devote himself to architecture. However, with the rise of Nazism he had to leave Germany, because of his Jewish origin, and moved first to England in 1933, and later to the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life, from 1937. Today his furniture designs are part of the most important collections in the world, including the MoMA in New York and the Victoria & Albert in London.