Chair, Variation on B5

Inspired by the strength and lightness of his first bicycle, Marcel Breuer created a chair in bent tubular steel in 1926. Soon after, many other designers began to work with this important modern material, producing such iconic furniture pieces as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s MR 20 Armchair (also on view in this gallery). Breuer spent several years in the Bauhaus furniture workshop perfecting his method for bending steel tubes and creating furniture that defined the avant-garde interiors of the Dessau Bauhaus school buildings and of the residences of senior faculty.