Canadian vs. Sitting Machine
Kanadier Canadian
Entwurf Design: Oskar Strnad, Wien
Vienna, um ca. 1 925
Ausführung Execution: unbekannt
unknown, um ca. 1925; Mahagoni,
Textilpolster Mahogany, textile
cushion; MAK H 2565/1978;
Schenkung Donation Rosl Weiser
i.
=>e-
Kanadier Canadian
Entwurf Design: Clemens
Holzmeister, Wien Vienna, 1920er
Jahre 1920s
Ausführung Execution: unbekannt
unknown, 1920er Jahrei 920s; Eiche,
Textilpolster Oak, textile cushion;
MAK H 3620/2012
Kanadier Canadian, aus Interieur
für from inferior furnishings for Frau
Ms. C. Neubaoher, Wien Vienna
Entwurf Design: Margarete Schütte-
Lihotzky, Wien Vienna, 1925
Ausführung Execution: unbekannt
unknown, 1925; Nuss, Textilpolster
Walnut, textile cushion;
MAK H 3168-1/1992
u
Until the interwar years in Austria, the so-called
Morris Chairs-as they were produced shortly
after the turn of the Century, for example by
Gebrüder Thonet, but also by architects and
designers such as Henry van de Velde or
Gustav Stickley-had developed into the
widespread model type referred to as the
Canadian: For the most part a tasteful arm-
chair made of solid wood with a backrest
which could be adjusted in various positions
and deep, upholstered cushions. As a com-
fortable piece of seating furniture which could
create a calming space in the room, it was
used by many different architects, such as
Oskar Strnad, Hugo Gorge, Margarete
Schütte-Lihotzky, Clemens Holzmeister, and
Ernst Plischke. In Germany, however, in the
context of Neue Sachlichkeit, the alleged
optimization of “Sitting Machines” in the
Service of “efficient” seating comfort was
achieved; As the architectural historian Julius
Posener ironically noted in 1932, this should
be a “fully articulated chair, which mechani-
cally adapts to any movement, even the
smallest and involuntary movement.” 1 In con-
tinuation of the American patent furniture
movement-whose sophisticated mechanisms
had a positive effect on the improvement of
seating comfort in motor vehicles 2 -architect
Hans Luckhardt developed such a sitting
machine in the mid-1930s (the “Siesta-
Medizinal") also for Thonet. 3 This was sup-
posed to result in a piece of furniture “whose
seat, backrest and leg-rest could be adjusted
in the appropriate, proportionally predeter-
mined inclinations using certain-synchroniz-
ed-gears and without having to lock the seat
in the respective reclining position.” 4
1 Julius Posener, “Stuhl oder Sitzmaschine? Neues Wohnen" (1932),
in: the same, Aufsätze und Vorträge 1931-1980, Braunschweig/
Wiesbaden 1981,35-38: 36.
2 In addition to the execution in wood, a version in tubulär Steel was
produced-as Model A-which after 1939, was praised as being the
“Siesta Medizinal, the new relaxation device, the most complete
rest" in the Gebrüder Thonet, Frankenberg, advertising leaflet.
3 Cf. Sigfried Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command-
A Contribution to Anonymous History, New York, 1948.
4 Fridtjof Schliephacke, “Erinnerung an Hans Luckhardt - Erfinder,
Konstrukteur, Architekt," in: Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1990: Brüder
Luckhardt und Alfons Anker, 98-112:106.
233
