Armchair: Model MR20

Designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (German, 1886 - 1969)

ManufacturerProbably Bamberg Metallwerkstätten (German, 1931 - 1932)

CultureGerman

Datedesigned 1927; manufactured 1931

MediumNickel-plated steel, steel, and cane

DimensionsOverall: 31 3/4 × 22 × 33 inches (80.65 × 55.88 × 83.82 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: acquired through exchange of the bequest of John K. Havemeyer

Object numberF89-32

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionBent tubular steel frame armchair with caned back and cantilevered seat, also caned; traces of dark finish on caning.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Bent Wood and Metal Furniture: 1850-1946, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, September 1986–November 15, 1986; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, January 17–February 8, 1987; Milwaukee Art Museum; Tampa Museum of Art, July 2–August 30, 1987; The Baltimore Museum of Art, September– November 1987; Indianapolis Museum of Art, December 15, 1987– February 8, 1988; Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan, March 27– May 1, 1988; Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, May 21– June 12, 1988; The Cleveland Museum of Art, August 24 –October 16, 1988, no. 71.

American Art Deco: Designing for the People, 1918-1939, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, June 5 2021–September 5 2021; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; July 9 2022–January 8 2023, no cat.

Gallery Label

German architect and designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe aimed to mass-produce inexpensive furniture from innovative materials such as tubular steel. One result was this lightweight, comfortable cantilevered chair. The fusion of handcrafted detail with modern technology embodies the ideals of the Bauhaus, the influential German design school in existence from 1919–1933. As the school’s last director, Mies brought its program and aesthetic to the United States in the late 1930s when he fled Germany to escape persecution by the Nazis.

Provenance

Mr. and Mrs. Al Luckett Jr., Boulder, CO;

With Barry Friedman, Ltd., New York by 1989;

Purchased from Barry Friedman, Ltd., by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1989.

Published References

Derek E. Ostergard, ed. Bent Wood and Metal Furniture: 1850-1946 (New York, N.Y.: University of Washington Press ; American Federation of Arts, 1987) 171, 275-276.

Newsletter, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (February 1990): n.p. (repro.).

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