-Wassily chair- Marcel Breuer

The B3 chair or Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer

A bit of history to gain knowledge:

Marcel Breuer was a modernist hungarian architect and product designer that stood for the Bahaus movement. Thanks to his uniqness he became part of the masters of the Bahaus school where he taught and learned from Gropius or Mies Van Der Rohe. 

Moreover, had a preference for modular constructions and simple shapes, for instance, his "B3 chair" made in 1928 also known as the Wassily chair,  he achieved the knowledge to be able to combined art and technology at the same time. At the end this lead him to become the director of the carpenter workshop in the Bauhaus. 

Therefore, this chair became the "classics" of the Bauhaus movement in the product design field.

What do i think about it? 

As we all know the "B3 chair"  also called "Wassily Chair" was created by Breuer for Wassily Kandinsky one of his partner at the Bauhaus but also his inspiration in design. As we can see, he married traditional carftmanship with industrial methods such as bending metal tubes. 

Moreover, we could think, Breuer got inspired from the metal tubes of bikes or even the handrails of stair cases. 

However, I do not think this was the only inspiration he has got, he probably found his inspiration in "Composition VIII" by Kandinsky and "Composition en rouge, jaune, bleu et noir" by Mondrian. 

 

Actually, it is said that Kandinsky was inspired by Mondrian, thus, Breuer combined and revisited their works.

Why Mondrian? 

I would say because of the rectangles and the shape he gave to the chair, if you look at it in elevations and plans, it reminds you of Mondrain's piece of art. 

However, the chair is not colorful, the shapes represents the paintings and the spirit of them. 

Finally, I would say that Breuer tried to create a product/piece of art and showing people that both at the same time could be something possible to achieve. He wanted  the Bauhaus movement to be remembered through this chair. 

Léa Blanchard