Hermann Czech’s Armchair for the MAK Cafe
Fauteuil Nr. 1011 Armchair No. 1011
Entwurf Design: Gebrüder Thonet, 1903
Ausführung Execution: Gebrüder Thonet, Bistritz Bystrice, um ca. 1910;
Buche, massiv gebogen, Sperrholz Beech, solid bent, plywood;
Sammlung Collection Heimo Keindl
Fauteuil Nr. 1010 Armchair No. 1010
Entwurf Design: Gebrüder Thonet, 1903
Ausführung Execution: Gebrüder Thonet, Bistritz Bystrice, um ca. 1910;
Buche, massiv und gebogen, Sperrholz Beech, solid and bent, plywood;
MAK H 2640/1982; Schenkung Donation Schifferer
As with Adolf Loos’ chair design for the Cafe
Museum from 1898, Hermann Czech's white
lacquered furniture for the MAK Cafe in Vienna,
which was executed by Thonet Vienna in 1993,
could be called sampling: While Czech's sim
ple chair without armrests was based princi-
pally on the simplicity of Thonet classics such
as No. 14 or No. 56, lesser known models
such as No. A 851/1 or No. A 383 from the
1930s 1 were also likely to be among the con-
crete role models for the armchair: unpreten-
tious and sturdy chairs, like those which are
still to be found today in many dining rooms,
but a bit lighter, slimmer and livelier in Czech's
version. 2 The armchair, on the other hand,
though it is based on the same simple type, is
almost mannerist in appearance due to the
sweeping swing of the armrest and the there-
with connected Variation of the front legs. Al-
though the models No. 1010 and No. 1011,
produced from 1903 onwards, seem plausible
as a direct template, 3 the armrest running like
the ring around a planet around the back of
the chair reminds one of the “floating armrest”
of Luigi Colani’s plastic chair produced by
Lusch starting in the early 1970s. 4
1 Cf. Gebrüder Thonet AG Frankenberg sales catalog No. 31
(June 1931).
2 The visual lightness also results from the fact that the lower part of
the legs of the otherwise white lacquered piece of bentwood
furniture was left so that the wood could be seen.
3 Cf. ZA No. 3 from 24 October 1903, 3 and 4, first offered in the
Gebrüder Thonet sales catalog from 1904, 47.
4 Cf. Exhib. Cat. Ingolstadt, 2002: Experiment 70. Designvisionen
von Luigi Colani und Günter Beltzig, 107.
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