Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair (1926) and Long Chair (1936): A Comparison of Bentwood and Tubular Steel Forms in Design

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The 1920s and 30s saw the evolution of Modernism as a movement, bringing in a new era of aesthetics in art while also emphasising upon the functionality of furniture. Marcel Breuer, one of the most influential designers of the time, took advantage of emerging innovations like the bending technique used for different materials like moulded plywood and steel for designing revolutionary furniture (Belov, 2015). This study compares the Wassily Chair (1926) and the Long Chair (1936) designed by Marcel Breuer. The study will compare the differences in bending techniques of steel and plywood leading to a difference in the form and user experience of both the chairs.

Inspired by the steel handles of a bicycle, Marcel Breuer experimented with metal furniture in the 1920s to create lightweight, mass-producible chairs (Winton, 2000). His minimalistic approach led to the creation of the Wassily Chair, where bent tubular stainless steel was used for the first time. In his design of the Long Chair, Marcel Breuer derived inspiration from his own aluminium chair of 1932-1933 (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2000). The Wassily Chair is an L-shaped upright steel framed chair with leather belts for the seat, armrests and backrest. It is 2.4 feet tall, with a length and breadth of 2.2 feet and 2.5 feet respectively (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2005). On the other hand, the Long Chair is an elongated reclining chair entirely made of plywood. It extends from the inclined headrest to the footrest. It is 4.5 feet long and 2 feet wide, with a height of 2.4 feet (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2000). The manufacture of both the chairs using the same bending technique on two very different materials - steel and plywood - by the same designer necessitates a comparison between the two.

Due to the use of bending techniques on steel and plywood, both the Wassily Chair and Long Chair, respectively, have continuous frames. The Wassily Chair is a continuous upright L-shape, with hard steel tubes and smooth leather straps to sit on (Felix, 2021), while the Long Chair is elongated and diagonally inclined. The sledge-like long horizontally bent legs in the Long Chair provide a stable look to it, compared

Fig 1. Wassily Chair (1926) Fig 2. Long Chair (1936) Bibliography

Belov, A. (2015, August 6). The history of modern furniture design. Viesso. https://viesso.com/blogs/a-la-mod/ the-history-of-modern-furnituredesign

Club chair, model B3. (2005, July 19). Victoria and Albert Museum. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/ O114197/club-chair-model-b3armchair-breuer-marcel-lajos/

DW News. (2010, January 29). Design icon (04) the Wassily chair [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=jLjKFgij4sQ

to the shorter and thinner horizontal legs of the Wassily Chair. The Wassily Chair has a cubical outline and hence has no solidity, thus providing visual transparency (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2005). The leather straps and open space in the backrest of the Wassily Chair seems to give a curved support to the back of the user against the solid hard backrest of the Long Chair. The seat of the Wassily Chair is at an angle so the user is forced to adopt an upright posture (DW News, 2010) whereas in the Long Chair, it seems as if the user can have a more relaxed reclining posture on the curved plywood. The armrests in the Wassily Chair are longer and broader than those of the Long Chair, which are short and curved upward, thus giving more arm space for the Wassily Chair user. The idea behind comparing these factors is to get a better understanding of how the user experience varies due to the difference in forms of the chairs.

Both the Wassily Chair and Long Chair were revolutionary furniture designs introduced to the world during the Modernist movement. The minimalistic approach to design along with an illusion of flow due to continuous frames made using the bending techniques relates both the chairs, one made of steel and the other plywood, enabling an understanding of how this results in different forms leading to varied user experience.

Felix, M. (2021, August 19). History of the Wassily chair. 360Modern. https://blog.360modern. com/history-of-the-wassilychair/2021/08/

Long chair. (2000, February 7). Victoria and Albert Museum. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/ O22774/long-chair-reclining-chairbreuer-marcel-lajos/long-chairreclining-chair-breuer/

Winton, A. G. (2000). Heilbrunn timeline of art history- the Bauhaus, 1919–1933. The Metropolitan Museum. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm