Metal furniture is "styleless" for it is not expected to express anything beyond its purpose. Since the outside world today subjects us to the most intense and diverse impressions, furnishings and spaces [must be] alterable, mobile, and variously combinable. Metal furniture is a necessary apparatus for contemporary life.
Marcel Breuer
Shown below is a variation of Breuer's B5 chair, produced by Thonet for the Société des Artistes décorateurs exhibition in Paris in 1930. It marked the first time in twenty years that Germany was invited to this high-profile exhibition at the Grand Palais. The overall presentation, Life in a High-Rise, was designed by Walter Gropius and featured Germany's radical new modernism, including Breuer's space-saving and lightweight steel-tubular furniture. The design below shares details with the present lot, in its stabilizing cross-bar, sturdy canvas, the curved lip at the top of the backrest and its elegant, efficient form.
