Thonet furniture, 1830-1953 : an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Author Thonet Industries
Date 1953
Publisher [publisher not identified]
Exhibition URL www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1722
The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history—from our founding in 1929 to the present—is available online. It includes exhibition catalogues, primary documents, installation views, and an index of participating artists.
MoMA © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art LIBRARY THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART Received; N / V )'
THONET 830-1953
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anexhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York ! 18RAP ' \t A:^r Artc/it{/£ Wt?c
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» T H O N E T furniture 1830-1953 an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
This filmstrip is presented by Thonet Industries, Inc.
on the occasion of their 100th anniversary in America
1853-1953
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THONETFURNITURE
An Exhibitionat the Museumof ModernArt, New York
This filmstripconsists of 4l frames,of which 8 are from printedsources and 33 are actualviews of the exhibitionand of furniturefeatured in the exhibition.
The filmstripis dividedinto four main sections:VIEWS OF THE EXHIBITION, BENTWOODFURNITURE, TUBULAR STEEL FURNITURE, and MOLDEDPLYWOOD FURNITURE. Below is a detailedlist with appropriatedata for each frame. Fullercommentar,/ will be found in the accompanyingmanual. VIEWS OF THE EXHIBITION
Five views of the exhibitionas installedat the Museumof ModernArt (Frames4-8) BENTWOOD
Title (Frame9) Bentwoodspiral made from a tree trunk dramaticallydemonstrates the possibilitiesof the bentwoodprocess (Frame10_) FirstBent VeneerChair, l336-l84o. Owned by Mrs. F. Thonet, Vienna (Frame11) BentwoodParquet Floor, Liechtenstein Palace, Vienna, 1343-49 (Frame12) BentwoodChair, Liechtenstein Palace, Vienna, 1843-49 (Frame13) Cafe Daum Bent VeneerChair, 1850. Owned by Mrs. F. Thonet, Vienna (Frame1.4) BentwoodFurniture Production (Frame15) IJ.L.Beech trunksare cut into boards U.R. Woodenpoles are steamedbefore bending L.L. Steamedpoles are strappedinto iron molds L.R. Weavingof cane seatsand backs
"Vienna"Bentwood Side Chair,1876 model - 1953 model. Collection,The Museumof ModernArt (Frame16) BentwoodRocking Chair, i860. Owned by Miss RobbieM. Griggs, Birmingham,Alabama (Frame17)
Picturesillustrating the popularityand wide-spreadacceptance of the bentwoodchair (Frame18)
BentwoodArm Chair,c. 1890.Owned by ThonetIndustries, Inc. (Frame19) ThonetBentwood Furniture exhibited ath the CrystalPalace Exhibition,London, 1851 (Frame20)
SinglePiece BentwoodChair, c. 1873 (Frame21
3 ProductionPhases of ExperimentalOak Chair:left to right (Frame22 a. Flat board,band sawed b. First bendingoperation forming the back c. Secondbending operation forming the seat d. Finishedchair Art NouveapEentwood Interior, Exposition For DecorativeArts, Turin,1902 (Frame23
BentwoodArm Chair,1870. Collection, The Museumof ModernArt (Frame2k
TUBUtARSTEEL Title (Frame25 Sectionof MarcelBreuer's TubularSteel Chair illustratinga new applicationof an industrialmaterial (Frame26 MarcelBreuer; Dining Room, PiscatorApartment, Berlin, 1927 (Frame27 LudwigMies van der Rohe: Living-DiningArea, TugendhatHouse, Brno, Czechoslovakia,1930 (Frame28 Le Corbusierand PierreJeanneret: Living Room, ChurchHouse, Ville d'Avray,1928-29 (Frame29 FirstTubular Metal Chair.Marcel Breuer, 1925- Collection, The Museumof ModernArt (Frame30 ResilientTubular Steel Cantilever Chair. Ludwig Mies van ( ' der Rohe, 1926.Collection, The Museumof ModernArt (Frame3-1
TubularSteel CantileverChair. Marcel Breuer, 1928. Collection,The Museumof ModernArt (Frame32 AdjustableRecliner. Le Corbusier,Pierre Jeanneret and CharlottePerriand, 1927 Collection,The Museumof ModernArt (Frame33 AdjustableRecliner (View showing recliner in anotherposition)(Frame 3^
RevolvingLeather Chair. Le Corbusier,Pierre Jeanneret and CharlottePerriand, 1927 Ownedby ThonetIndustries, Inc. (Frame35 MOLPFDPLYWOOD Title (Frame 36 MoldedPlywood shapes demonstrate the inherentflexibility of a traditionallyrigid material (Frame37 AdjustableLounge Chair. Ilmari Tapiovaara, 1929 Ownedby ThonetIndustries, Inc. (Frame38
MoldedPlywood Arm Chair.Joe Adkinson,1952. Owned by Thonet Industries,Inc. (Frame39
1 THONETFJRNITURE
Frames1-8: Introduction and InstallationViews of the Exhibition
The storyof Thonetfurniture (presented here on the occasionof the firm's 100thanniversary in the UnitedStates) reads like a chapterin the history of industrialization.In the earlypart of the 19thcentury, Michael Thonet, a smallcabinet-maker and joiner,well trained in his craft,experimented in his Rhenishworkshop with new methods to producea chairwhich would be light er, moredurable and at the sametime cheaper to makethan the handmadeproducts of his trade. In 1830,at the age of 23, he beganmaking chair parts and soon completechairs of bundlesof thickveneer strips, which were saturated with glueand exposedto heatin woodenmolds. Thisoriginal method, which was laterreplaced by an improvedprocess of bendingsolid wood, preceded Alvar Aalto'sbent plywood furniture of the 1930sby one hundredyears.
In 1842Thonet moved to Austria.Keenly aware of the originalityand possibil itiesof his invention,he pursuedhis idea,in partnershipwith his fivesons, througha lifetimeof unceasinglabor and planning.When he diedin 1871at the age of 75> the one-timesmall cabinet-maker left behind an industrialem pireof factoriesand sawmills, vast holdings of forestsand a networkof companyshowrooms in 25 capitalcities. His inventionled to an entirenew industry.After the expirationof his originalpatents in 1869,other companies beganproducing the samefurniture. Together, in the firstdecade of the 20th century,the industryemployed more than 35,000 people.
In manyrespects the Thonet story reads like the Fordstory in the automobile industry.Part of its successlies in industrializationthrough division of labor,the professional craftsman being replaced by untrainedhands working in an assemblyline (see Frame no, 15),through control of raw materialsessential to industry-factorieswere placed near beechwood forests, for whichexploitation rightshad beensecured-and through a world-widesales organization.
The products-anelaborate line of furniture, particularlychairs-were shipped
aroundthe globe in millionsof piecesand installedin everyplace where people
sat down for pleasureor work. Dismantledfor easy shippingand equippedwith
screwsfor quickassembly, this furnitureled straightto the serialproduction
of the 20th century. It not only acceptedbut turnedto positiveadvantage the limitationsof machineproduction, which for good resultsasks for anonymous,
simpleshapes devoid of the craftsman'srich and intricatedetail. There is eleganceand refinementin many of the piecesand an inventivenessin the use
of materialand productionmethods which have not been surpassed.
The greatFrench architect Le Corbusierfurnished his Pavilionde 1'Esprit
Nouveauat the 1925 Expositiondes Arts Decoratifsin Pariswith standardized Thonet chairswhich were designedaround 1870 (Frameno. 2^). Le Corbusier explainedhis choicewhen he said "We have introducedthe humbleThonet chair of steamedwood, certainlythe most commonas well as the least costlyof
chairs. And we believethat this chair,whose millionsof representativesare used on the Continentand in the two Americas,possesses nobility." Siegfried
Giedionin his book "MechanizationTakes Command"terms them "formpurified by serialproduction."
It was also in 1925 that a new idea revolutionizedfurniture design: The inven tion of the tubularsteel chair,for which ThonetBrothers soon obtainedmajor
productionrights. The storygoes that MarcelBreuer, then a masterat the Bauhausin Dessau,envisioned the use of chromium-platedtubular steel for
metal furniturewhile he was ridinga bicycle. It occurredto him that the
same bent steelwhich formedhis handlebars couldbe fashionedinto continuous loops to form the supportingframes of chairsand tables. In 1925 he designed
and built the first chair entirelyof chrome-platedtubular steel (Frameno.50).
Anotherrevolutionary step in the developmentof modernfurniture was the tubular steel cantileverchair. One of the firstmodels, a Breuerdesign of 1928,
3
eventuallybecame the prototypefor thousandsof modificationsthroughout the
world. (Frameno. 32). Between1925 and 1929> the greatestarchitects of the
modernmovement, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier,Marcel Breuer and others,de velopedtubular steel furniture which we considertoday, together with their architecture,as the classicexamples of new spatialrelationships for a new in dustrialand scientificsociety. ThonetBrothers, who were by then an inter
nationalorganization with factoriesin Germanyand Franceas well as the former
Austrianterritories, produced all of thesedesigns and becamethe commercial exponentsof a new conceptof beauty.
Recent additionsto the furnitureproduced by the AmericanThonet Industries re flect the firm'spioneer spirit. Knock-downplywood and leatherchairs by IlmariTapiovaara and moldedplywood chairs by Joe Adkinson(Frames no. 58 and
39) indicatethe endlesspossibilities open to the inventivemind in designs
which are as differentfrom the rigidprecision of the metal piecesof the 1920s
as they are from the sinuousinterlacings of the earlierbentwood chairs.
FIRST BENT VENEERCHAIR, I856-I8I+O. Frames9-11
MichaelThonet, born in 1796 in the smalltown of Boppardon the Rhine, the carpenter'strade and in 1819, at the age of 25, openedhis own businessas joinerand cabinetmaker. It was the periodof Germanadaptation of French Empire,called Biedermeier in Germany,and Thonet's furniturein the Biedermeier stylewas sold alongthe Rhine and in the nearbyMosel valley. Experimentsto make this furniturelighter, yet strongerand more portable,began in 1830. Between1830 and 18^0 Thonet succeededin makingchair parts and soon entirechairs by bendingand heatingthick bundles of veneers,saturated with glue, in preparedwooden molds. His firstexperiments were the curvedtop and centerbars of chairbacks, traditionally carved from solidwood and coveredwith k a thin sheetof fine veneer. The new discoverymade these same shapesmuch lighter, more durableand relativelycheap, since the core consistedof strips of ordinarylumber. Costlyveneers were used on the outsideonly. Realizingthe importanceof his invention,Thonet thought to protectit by taking out patentrights in variouscontries. Investorswere foundand with their help patentsacquired in France,England and Belgium. Thonetplanned to financelarge scaleproduction at home throughthe sale of foreignpatents, but was unableto do so. At the time this chairwas produced(Frame no. 11) Thonetwas largelyabsorbed in workingout his technique,which he also appliedto the curvedhead and foot boards of beds and sofas. There are some unconventionalcurls back of the top support, but nothingelse in the appearanceof the chair'supper part distinguishesit from otherchairs of the same period. The extraordinarytechnical innovation however,caused a strangetransformation of its lowerpart. The chairnow sits on four legs which do not end at the floorbut springup to join each other. As the bendingmethods were furtherdeveloped, an entirelynew shapegradually emerged, havingno relationshipto forms and decorativeschemes of earlierperiods, but suggestingnew conceptsof beautygenuinely of our own time. CAFE DAUM BENT VENEERCHAIR, 1850 Frames12-l4 In 184-1Thonet met PrinceMetternich, then Europe'smightiest statesman. The prince,visiting his Rhenishestates, saw some of the new furnitureat a local fair, recognizedits potentialitiesand arguedthat Thonetwould never fully realizehis inventionwithin the narrowconfines of his home town. Viennawas the place for a man of his caliber. He offeredhis sponsorshipat the Imperial Court,even a free ride to Viennain the coachof the diplomaticcourier. Thonet acceptedand in 1842 went to Austria,where patent rights had alreadybeen granted 5 to him. He was well receivedand soon a "privilege"gave him the right to "bend by chemo-mechanicalmeans any, even the most brittle,types of wood into any form hnd curvedesired." The Germancreditors who had financedhis foreignpatents meanwhile dispossessed him in an effortto recovertheir losses. Thonetmoved his familyto Vienna and startedafresh. For four years he and four of his sonswere under contract to a Viennesecabinet maker, commissionedto designand manufactureparquet floorsand furnitureused in remodelingthe huge LiechtensteinPalais (for picturesof Thonet's bentwoodparquets and chairsin the LiechtensteinPalais, executedin the styleof the secondRococo, see Framesno. 12 and 15). This chair.(Frame no. 1^) was one of the firstdesigns produced after Thonet and his sons openedtheir own workshopin 18^9. It drew much publicattention when it was exhibitedin 1850 togetherwith some of the intricateparquet designs. Viennesenewspapers reported on the new invention;sponsors in high placespraised its qualities;but the greatestcommercial success was the first large order which came from MadameDaum, owner of a famouscafe. Cafe Daum was the first publicplace to be furnishedwith bentwoodchairs (made especially from the finestmahogany and in use until 1876,when they were replacedby new Thonet designs). This chairwas manufacturedby bendingfour layersof wood for the back support and five layersfor the seat frame. These wood stripswere first softenedin boilingwater, then bent in preparedmolds and dried. The individualbent veneer shapeswere then gluedtogether. In its appearance,the chairdiffers radically from the early Germanas well as the eclecticbut remarkablyhandsome and fluid Liechtensteindesigns (see Frames no. 11 and 13). Its shape,rather than con formingto the designprinciples of a past period,seems to be born out of the material. It rises lightlyfrom the groundand followsnaturally the bendinglines of the wood grain. The tops of the frontlegs stillshow tracesof conventional 6 carving,eliminated in laterdesigns. The chairas a whole is alreadyr.efined to the essentialelements: a seat held "byfour legs, the two in the rear "being joined to make a continuouscurved back support. The two curlicueswhich face each otherwithin the chairback, while bracingthe curvedrail, supplya decora tive elementin a simpleand unaffectedmanner. "VIENNA"BENTWOOD SIDE CHAIR,1876 MODEL—1953 MODEL. Frames15-16 The firstThonet showroomwas openedin Vienna in 1852. Workshopswere moved to largerquarters to house k2 workmenand a steamengine to drive the machines which until then had been operatedby hand. In 1855 MichaelThonet transferred his businessto his five sons,retaining leadership in ThonetBrothers. The first large scalefactory was openedin 1857 in Koritschan,a smallcountry town in Moravia,abundant in beechwoodforests and with a local farm population to providecheap labor. It was here that full industrializationwas introduced. Professionalcabinet makers were no longeremployed. Laborwas dividedbetween men to do heavywork and youthfulhelpers, mostly girls, for sanding,polishing, weavingand packing. The weavingof careseats and backswas latertransformed into a separatehome industry(see Frameno. 15). More machineswere installed(all inventedand built by the Thonetsthemselves), and productioncontinuously improved: furniture parts were no longerglued, but screwedtogether, so that they couldbe shippeddemounted at great space savings. An importantstep in the conquestof worldmarkets was an inventionenabling even the most complexcurves to be bent from solidwood. From then on countriesin tropicalzones became potential customers, since the sectionsno longermade of layersof bent veneersglued together, could not separateunder the influenceof heat and moisture. A smallside chairwas added to the firm'sline in 1859 in an effortto intro duce a particularlysimple, inexpensive chair. The two piecesshown here (Frame no. l6)rare the 1876 versionof this chair (eventuallyto becomethe best known' . of all Thonetproducts) and the same chairas it is stillproduced today by ThonetIndustries. The importantinnovation of the original1859 designwas the circularbent seat frame,supported by a ring brace. By 1900 this round seat was used in connectionwith about one hundreddifferent back designs. Customerswere also offeredthe choiceof four differentleg braces,of which two are presented here. Howeverthis chair is more than a rationalassembly of standardizedparts. The new processof bendingwood was originallymeant to reducethe weightof sol id carvedparts of a traditionaldesign. But in its step by step development, a chairdesign emerged for which no prototypeexisted-a design that is predom inantlyopen and linear. Known as the Viennachair, eventually it becamethe firm'smain product. By 1900 the bentwoodindustry had producedan estimated^0 millionVienna chairs, a figurewhich by this time has grownto well over 100 million. EENTWOODROCKING CHAIR, i860. (Frameno. 17) Frames17-18 Eockingchairs are said to have originatedin Lancashirearound 1750. At about the same time,Benjamin Franklin produced a rockingchair for which he used iron rockers. Duringthe late l8th centurythe Windsorrocker became a fixtureof the Americanhome. It may be possiblethat its popularityhere reflectedhabits of greaterinformality developed by the colonistsin contrastto the more formalized patternsof Europeanliving. The firstbentwood rocking chair was producedin i860. In Austriaup to that time only heavy,upholstery-padded iron rockingchairs were known. Their un- wieldinessand high pricesdid not encouragewide distribution.Even the new, lighterbentwood rocking chair was slow in findinga market. Overseasexport 8 eventuallypushed production-it was the ideal seat for hot countries. In the first decadeof the 20th century,the entireindustry's output grew eventually to about 100,000pieces annually (see Frame no. 18 for popularityof bentwood rockingchair). But it was more than its weightwhich distinguishedthe new bentwoodrocking chair from its forerunners.These earlierpieces were ordinarychairs whose four legs were plantedon two curvedpieces of wood (cradlesworked on the same principlecenturies before anybody thought of transferringthe idea to chairs). The designof the bentwoodrocking chair was developedfrom the bendingprocess- a doubleframe, shootingforward in two vigorousarcs and bendingbackward like the runnersof a sleigh,an elementwhich fiftyyears laterappears in the re silientcantilever chair of Mies van der Rohe (see Frameno. 31)* The chair'ssemi-horizontal shape, which requireslonger rails, produces a racy, sleekappearance. No otherbentwood chair type allowsas much freedomand in ventivenessin the play of bent rails-infact, none showsas clearlyas the many rockervariations, including the designof a rockingsofa with adjustableback, the emergenceof a new type of decorationwhich, similar to Art Nouveaudesign, was not appliedas an afterthought,but becamea linearanimation of the object itself. The curvesand spiralflourishes which fill the spacesbetween the seat and the long slidingrocker base-excellent technical solutions of bracingand frame support-thecurled up end piecesof the back frame,the pullingapart of two parallellines into seat frameand arm rest,all indicatea highlysophisti cated,imaginative interpenetration of practicaland decorativeelements. BENTWOODARM CHAIR,c. I89O Frameno. 19-23 1862 saw the openingof the secondfactory in Bistritzin Moravia,after Koritschanhad proventoo smalland its surroundingforests unable to yield to 9 sufficientquantities of Carpathian"beech. The new factorywas almostentirely devotedto manufacturing"Vienna" chairs. At the same time the Thonetsbegan producing a greatvariety of goods other than furniture.Their catalogssoon includedhat stands,wall brackets,picture framesand easels,walking sticks, wash stands,hoops, baby chairsand cribs. It was also here that a new line of "Phantasie"furniture was developed,of which this chair is a good example(Frame no. 19). Its proportionsare of a generosity similarto that of the arm chairof I87O (seeFrame no. 2k-); its design,how ever, is purposelyintricate and rich. (For additionalexamples see Frames no. 20, 21, 22). Art Nouveaudesign elements, like the long, sensitivecurves, and the flowing, endlessinterplay of lines,were intrinsicparts of bentwooddesign. Certain furniturepieces and entireinteriors (see Frame no. 23) triedto adaptbent- wood to Art Nouveauas the styleof the period. However,Art Nouveauas a style seemedto have by-passedthe use of bentwoodfor its purposes,and, possiblyfor the sake of greaterpower of expressionand infiniterefinement, preferredthe traditionalmethods of carvingfrom solidwood its undulating stalksand whip-lashcurves. BENTWOODARM CHAIR,1870. Frame2*4- Thonet'sacute production problem was the supplyof wood for their spreading factories. Only by movingon to Hungaryand Galiziaand laterto Polandand Russiacould sufficientsupplies be obtained. Saw mills were erectedon the estatesof the princelyowners of largeforest lands, now so far removedfrom the factoriesthat materialhad to be shippedby rail. t A tremendousvariety of designspoured forth from the Thonetsas well as their 10 competitors.Many of thesedesigns possess great beauty and ingenuity,but none of them measuresup to this chairof c. 1870,which combineslightness of con structionwith eleganceof form,-nor do they achievethis degreeof reductionto essentials.It is difficultto realizethat this handsome,straightforward designcould be the resultof Industrializationmisued at that time (the height of Victorianprosperity) to swampEurope with an avalancheof simulatedhandi crafts,of imitationmaterial and imitationforms, produced by machine. This arm chair (Frameno. 2^) is unusuallywell proportioned:There is a generous seat on sturdybut well taperedlegs, and a sweepingcurve which runs over the back from one edge of the seat to the other,forms the arms. Its simplicityand directnessforeshadow the open-cageshapes of the later tubularsteel furniture; its refinementis heightenedthrough the taperinglines possible in wood. It was this standardizedchair, then in continuousproduction for over 50 years, which Le Corbusierand PierreJearmeret selected for their famousPavilion de L'EspritNouveau at the 1925 Expositiondes Arts Decoratifsin Paris. FIRSTTUBULAR METAL CHAIR.MARCEL BREUER, 1925 Frames25-50 ThonetBrothers in the early twentiesmerged with a group of their competitors and the new firm operatedfactories in Germanyand Franceas well as in the countriesof the formerAustrian territory. MichaelThonet was no longerthe singleauthority who choseand createddesigns, the greatestmerit of which was the anonymoussimplicity and materialeconomy of serialproducts. Outsidersentered the designfield, particularly architects in searchof furnitureto fit theirnew houses. Curiousabout untraditional material,they broughtto furnituredesign the same spatialconcepts from which their new architecturederived. (See Framesno. 27> 28, 29). 11 A revolutionaryinvention in furnitureoccurred in Germany. The architect Marcel Breuer,then a youngmaster at the Bauhausin Dessau,conceived the idea of bendingtubular steel into continuousloops to form the framesfor chairs and tables. The idea came to him while ridinghis bicycle,and in 1925 Breuer constructedthe firsttubular steel chair. (Frame no. 30). f It is a complicatedmaze of interlacedsteelbars, suggesting the cage-likemetal skeletonof a modernhouse. The frame is articulatedby tautlystretched can vas panelswhich, like the walls of a framebuilding, no longercarry weight but are suspendedin the steelframe. For threeyears this design,which was conceivedfor mass production,had to be executedpiece by piece in a smallmetal shop. In 1928,Thonet took over the designand was soon manufacturingBreuer's chair in Germanyand in France. RESILIENTTUBULAR STEEL CANTILEVERCHAIR. LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE, 1926 Frame 31 Once the tensilestrength of tubularsteel for furniturewas utilized,it was only one more step towardsanother, even more startlinginnovation-the cantilever chair. Until this time, chairshad usuallytouched the groundwith four feet- sometimes with three;in the cantileverchair an engineeringprinciple, new to furniture,is involved:that of a projectingbeam or plane supportedonly at one end. Modernarchitecture's extensive use of this principlewas made possible throughsteel and reinforcedconcrete. Applyingthe principleto chairs,a numberof architectsalmost simultaneously evolved a logicalform: a continuous loop frame extendingits frontlegs backwardalong the groundlike runnersof a sleighand thus dispensingwith the need for back legs. The frame'ssides were then connectedby panelsof fabric,leather or woven cane, so that in forming seat and back theirnatural flexibility was added to the resilienceof the steel. u-- ; v