Marcel Breuer: Bauhaus Master Who Defined Brutalism
Marcel Breuer (1902-1981), a modernist architect and designer originally from Hungary, significantly influenced Bauhaus principles and Brutalist architecture. He was born in Pécs and studied under Walter Gropius and Paul Klee at the Bauhaus, eventually leading the furniture workshop. Breuer's notable creations, such as the Wassily Chair (1925) and Cesca Chair (1928), were groundbreaking in tubular steel furniture design. After escaping Nazi Germany, he taught at Harvard and collaborated with Gropius on homes like the Hooper House (Baltimore, 1958) and Gagarin House (Litchfield, Connecticut, 1956). His prominent projects include the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and the Whitney Museum of American Art (Breuer Building) in New York. The Armstrong Rubber Company (Pirelli Tire Building, 1966), showcasing his Brutalist approach, was transformed into Hotel Marcel, the US's first net-zero energy hotel, in 2022. Breuer passed away on July 1, 1981.
Key facts
- Marcel Breuer was born in 1902 in Pécs, Hungary.
- He studied at the Bauhaus under Walter Gropius and Paul Klee.
- He designed the Wassily Chair in 1925 and the Cesca Chair in 1928.
- He fled Nazi Germany and moved to the US in 1937.
- He taught at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.
- He designed the Whitney Museum of American Art (Breuer Building).
- The Armstrong Rubber Company building was reopened as Hotel Marcel in 2022.
- Breuer died on July 1, 1981.
Entities
Artists
- Marcel Breuer
- Walter Gropius
- Paul Klee
- Wassily Kandinsky
- Mies van der Rohe
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Pierre Charreau
- Bernard Zehrfuss
- Pier Luigi Nervi
- Edith Hooper
- Andrew Gagarin
- Jamie Gagarin
- Constance Crocker Leighton
- Marta Erps
- Jakab Breuer
- Francisca Leko
Institutions
- Bauhaus
- Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna
- Harvard University Graduate School of Design
- Standard Möbel Company
- Marcel Breuer and Associates
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Met Breuer
- Frick Collection
- Frick Madison
- Sotheby's
- UNESCO
- Armstrong Rubber Company
- Pirelli Tire Company
- IKEA
- Becker & Becker
- Hotel Marcel
- MoMA
- Bauhaus-Archiv Museum
- The Studio
Locations
- Pécs
- Hungary
- Vienna
- Austria
- Weimar
- Germany
- Dessau
- Paris
- France
- Berlin
- London
- United Kingdom
- Cambridge
- United States
- New York
- Baltimore
- Litchfield
- Connecticut
- Rotterdam
- Netherlands
- Afghanistan