Modernization Processes
The comparison of these two armchairs ex-
emplifies how a piece of bentwood furniture
from the 1860s became a “modern” piece of
furniture. The so-called “Ladies’ Armchair"
from Gebrüder Thonet was already shown on
the poster from 1866, and was structuraily
different from all the seating furniture to date. 1
The crest rail and the armrests are made of
one single component, The armrests have no
volutes as in the classic armchairs, but rather
run diagonally until under the seat. The rear
legs merge into the inner crest rail, in which
an additional caned medallion is inserted. 2
The Kohn armchair No. 725/B/F, 3 which was
created shortly- after the turn of the century-
often mistakenly attributed to Josef Hoffmann
on account of its “modern” design vocabu-
lary-displays a Variation on the construction
of the Ladies’ Armchair. Due to a newly de-
veloped process, almost rectangular bends
could be carried out for the first time, making
the geometrically effective constructions
typical of Viennese Modernism possible-an
impression which is further enhanced by the
rectangular wooden cross-sections. The sta-
bilizing role of the leg ring is taken over by the
four balls attached under the seat. Additionally,
the legs are joined into a u-shaped base.
1 It has sometimes been suggested that the term used for this piece
of furniture (“Ladies’ Armchair”) indicates that the beveled armrests
were meant avoid the restriction of women's freedom of movement
when knitting; however, no concrete proof could be found for this
claim.
2 The same construction can be found in the writing desk armchair
No. 9, which was highly esteemed by Le Corbusier, whereby here
the armrests do not run transversely downwards, but rather are led
downward starting at the level of the front legs.
3 An identical armchair was offered under the number 725/g.
However, the u-shaped base, which rests on the floor in the model
shown, is set approx. 10 centimeters higher here, the legs were
given brass shoes. Cf. Kohn’s catalog from 1906, pp. 22 and 33
in: Giovanni e Chiara Renzi, Curve e Biondi Riccioli Viennesi,
Milano 2000.
