MARCEL BREUER (1902 - 1981) was a Hungarian-born designer, celebrated for his achievements in both architecture and furniture. A champion of the modern movement and protégé of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, Breuer was started his career as a student and subsequent a master carpenter at the Bauhaus in the early 1920s. His entire body of work, both architecture and furniture, embodies the driving Bauhaus objective to reconcile art and industry.

While at the Bauhaus, Breuer revolutionized the modern interior with his tubular-steel furniture collection — inspired by bicycle construction and fabricated using the techniques of local plumbers. His first designs, including the Wassily Chair, remain among the most identifiable icons of the modern furniture movement.

Breuer’s attention eventually moved towards architecture. After practicing privately, he worked as a professor at Harvard’s School of Design under Walter Gropius. Breuer was honored as the first architect to have a solo exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1963, Breuer began work on perhaps his best-known architectural project — the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

(Image Credit: Bauhaus Archiv; Source: Knoll)