The architect and designer Marcel Breuer was one the 20th century’s most influential and innovative adherents of modernism. A member of the Bauhaus faculty, Breuer — like such colleagues as the architects Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the artists and art theoreticians László Moholy-Nagy and Josef Albers — left Europe in the 1930s to champion the new design philosophy and its practice in the United States.
Born in Hungary, Breuer became a Bauhaus student in 1920 and quickly impressed Gropius, the German school’s founder, with his aptitude for furniture design. His early work was influenced by the minimalist Dutch design movement De Stijl — in particular the work of architect Gerrit Rietveld.
In 1925, while he was head of the Bauhaus furniture workshop, Breuer realized his signature innovation: the use of lightweight tubular-steel frames for chairs, tables and sofas — a technique soon adopted by Mies and others. Breuer’s attention gradually shifted from design to architecture, and, at the urging of Gropius, he joined his mentor in 1937 on the faculty of Harvard and in an architectural practice.
In the 1940s, Breuer opened his own architectural office, and there his style evolved from geometric, glass-walled structures toward a kind of hybrid architecture — seen in numerous Breuer houses in New England — that pairs bases of local fieldstone with sleek, wood-framed modernist upper floors. In his later, larger commissions, Breuer worked chiefly with reinforced concrete and stone, as seen in his best-known design, the brutalist inverted ziggurat built in New York in 1966 as the home of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Breuer’s most famous furniture pieces are those made of tubular steel, which include the Wassily chair — named after Wassily Kandinsky and recognizable for its leather-strap seating supports — and the caned Cesca chair.
Breuer also made several notable designs in molded plywood, including a chaise and nesting table for the British firm Isokon and a student furniture suite commissioned in 1938 for a dormitory at Bryn Mawr College. Whether in metal or wood, Breuer’s design objects are elegant and adaptable examples of classic modernist design — useful and appropriate in any environment.
Find vintage Marcel Breuer seating, storage cabinets and lighting on 1stDibs.
Thonet B 9 Table by Marcel Breuer
By Gebrüder Thonet Vienna GmbH, Marcel Breuer
Located in PRAHA 5, CZ
The Thonet B 9 designed in 1920´s by Marcel Breuer is one of the most popular furniture designs to have emerged at the Bauhaus. Unusual version with uniquel...
Steel, Chrome
Early Thonet B 9 Nesting Tables by Marcel Breuer
By Thonet, Marcel Breuer
Located in PRAHA 5, CZ
Early set of nesting tables, model B9 - 9C. Chrome-plated tubular steel and lacquered wood. Manufactured probably by Gebrüder Thonet AG, Frankenberg, These pieces, while originally d...
Steel, Chrome
$7,067 / set
H 15.56 in W 25.99 in D 23.63 in
B9 Nesting Tables by Marcel Breuer – Thonet-Frankenberg, 1930s Bauhaus Design
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Berlin, DE
An original set of three B9 nesting tables designed by Marcel Breuer and produced by Thonet (Frankenberg) in the 1930s. The B9 is among the most iconic table designs of early Bauhaus...
Steel, Chrome
$5,250
H 21.66 in W 23.43 in D 15.56 in
First Edition Side Tables by Marcel Breuer for Thonet, Germany, 1930s
By Thonet, Marcel Breuer
Located in Antwerp, BE
Nesting tables B9 by Marcel Breuer, a hallmark of Bauhaus design produced by Thonet. Crafted from chrome-plated tubular steel and sleek wooden panels, these tables exemplify Breuer's...
Aluminum
$4,476 / set
H 23.82 in W 25.79 in D 15.75 in
Restored Nesting Tables, by M. Breuer for Thonet, Oak, Chrome, Czech, 1920s
By Thonet, Marcel Breuer
Located in Brandys nad Labem, Středočeský kraj
This set of four nesting tables is a masterpiece of modernist furniture and an icon of the Bauhaus school from the early 20th century. The visionary Marcel Breuer, one of the first t...
Steel, Chrome
Marcel Breuer Bauhaus side table B12 - Thonet
By Marcel Breuer, Thonet
Located in The Hague, NL
Rare Marcel Breuer Bauhaus side table B12 - Thonet. It's a family piece and it is marked -as you can see in the pictures- so the authenticity is guaranteed. A timeless design icon, which blends in many different interior styles. It has oxidation on the chrome plated steel and it is painted black. The construction still is really good. This is an outstanding opportunity to become the happy owner of an authentic Marcel Breuer B12...
Steel
Bauhaus Tubular Steel Side Table B 12 by Marcel Breuer, 1930s
By Marcel Breuer, Mücke & Melder
Located in PRAHA 5, CZ
Originally designed by Marcel Breuer and catalogued as model B 12, this elegant Bauhaus side table stands as a hallmark of rational design. Manufactured in the 1930s by Mücke & Melde...
Steel, Chrome
$942
H 27.96 in W 27.56 in D 18.12 in
Restored Bauhaus Side Table, by Marcel Breuer for Mücke-Melder, Czech, 1930s
By Mücke & Melder, Marcel Breuer
Located in Brandys nad Labem, Středočeský kraj
This table is an icon of 20th-century modern design, bearing the signature of one of the most influential designers of the Bauhaus movement, Marcel Breuer. It was manufactured in the...
Steel, Chrome
Two-Tier Bauhaus Coffee Table by Marcel Breuer for Thonet
By Thonet, Marcel Breuer
Located in Torino, IT
Iconic two-tiered coffee table attributable to Marcel Breuer, central figure of the Bauhaus movement and pioneer of 20th-century modernist design. Breuer redefined the relationship b...
Metal
Marcel Breuer Pair of Original Thonet B-12 Side Tables
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Sharon, CT
A pair of classic Breuer designs in original unrefinished condition.
Steel
Rare Bauhaus chrome Nesting Tables B9, Marcel Breuer-Thonet License Mucke Melder
By Marcel Breuer, Mücke & Melder
Located in Praha, CZ
- 1930s - Czechoslovakia - Designed by Marcel Breuer - Model B9 - Manufacturer: Mucke Melder (licensed for Thonet) - marked - wooden parts in original condition
Chrome
Bauhaus Chrome Nesting Table B9 by Marcel Breuer for Mucke Melder, 1930s
By Marcel Breuer, Mücke & Melder, Thonet
Located in Praha, CZ
- 1930s, Czechoslovakia - Original condition - Original red color, partly missing - No later production! jr
Chrome
1930s Marcel Breuer B10 Bauhaus Tubular Table by Mucke Melder, Czechoslovakia
By Mücke & Melder, Marcel Breuer
Located in Praha, CZ
- Chrome plated parts in good condition with some signs of use. - Top desk has been relacquered some times ago and its in good condition.
Chrome
Rare Bauhaus chrome Nesting Table B9, Marcel Breuer-1930s
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Praha, CZ
- 1930s - Czechoslovakia - Designed by Marcel Breuer - Model B9 - wooden part in original condition
Chrome
Rare Bauhaus chrome Nesting Tables B9, Marcel Breuer - 1930s
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Praha, CZ
- 1930s - Czechoslovakia - Designed by Marcel Breuer - Model B9 - wooden parts in original condition - chrome with patina
Chrome
Bauhaus Side Table Attributed to Marcel Breuer, Czechoslovakia
By Marcel Breuer
Located in Praha, CZ
A refined Bauhaus side table attributed to Marcel Breuer, produced in Czechoslovakia. This modernist piece exemplifies Bauhaus principles through its chromed tubular steel frame pai...
Steel, Chrome
