Lot: 65

Marcel Breuer
'ti 1a' wooden-slat chair, 1924

H. 92,3 x 56 x 58,8 cm; Slats: 2,4 x 5,4 cm; Square edge: 3,9 x 3,9 cm. Made at Bauhaus Weimar, 1924/25. Cherry wood slats, grey textile cover. Marked: 2 labels: property R. Probst, 5, marking stamp VI.

First version with legs made of square-edged wood. Provenance: This slat chair, like the example auctioned at Quittenbaum on June 29, 2021, comes from the Dresden art trade;, before that private collection Dresden (estate of an elderly lady), before that Rudolf Probst (labels on the underside of the chair).

Already as a so-called budget journeyman in the furniture workshop at the Bauhaus, Marcel Breuer created ingenious and functional designs and his children's furniture in particular was very popular. At the same time, inspired by Gerrit Rietveld's 'Red and Blue' chair, he used the simplest of means (wooden slats, vertically joined together on a square floor plan and covered with strips of fabric), to accomplish a piece of furniture that is both light and stable and meets all ergonomic needs. Unfortunately, the 'ti 1a' was not a bestseller: Magdalena Droste and Manfred Ludewig found during their research that, within six months (summer 1924-March 1925) 262 children's chairs and 32 children's tables were produced, but only 26 copies of the slatted chairs (Droste / Ludewig, Marcel Breuer Design, Cologne 1992, p. 11).

In "Neue Arbeit der Bauhauswerkstätten", 1925, p. 29, the chair is described as follows: "The elastic, sloping seat supports the entire thigh. The back is then also held at an angle and elastic, by two straps that only hold shoulder blades and cross - flat parts of the back - touch, leaving the sensitive spine free. " (New work of the Bauhaus workshops, reprint 1981, p. 28f.). How many of the slatted chairs have withstood the ravages of time is not known today and makes the few examples that have survived into absolute icons.

>> Literature

Hammer Price: 55,000 €

160A - Schools of Design
07. December 2021 at 3:00 PM CET

Literature:

Droste / Ludewig, Marcel Breuer Design, Cologne 1992, p. 6-8, p. 35, p. 46/47; Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung coll. cat., Berlin 1987, p. 90 (text).