Seating set consisting of two armchairs and a bench, manufactured by J.&J. Kohn, model no. 721, Vienna | Designed around 1902
Bent beech wood, back and seat in plywood, stained to mahogany, surface slightly polished
Otto Wagner designed the armchair around 1902. It is a variant of the chair that he had created for the dispatch office „Die Zeit“ in Vienna. The 721 armchair is the first modern chair with a backrest made of plywood perforated with evenly spread holes for decoration. This motif of perforated backs and seats with holes remains a popular chair design in later years: a famous example is the Swiss Landi chair from 1938, designed by Hans Coray for the 1939 Swiss Federal Exhibition in Zurich.
Literature: Hackenschmidt, Sebastian und Thillmann, Wolfgang, Bugholz, vielschichtig - Thonet und das moderne Möbeldesign, Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Katalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung im MAK, Wien, 2019, 222, 258
Post Otto Wagner - Von der Postsparkasse zur Postmoderne, Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Basel, Katalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung des MAK, Wien, Christoph Thun-Hohenstein und Sebastian Hackenschmidt, Wien, 2018, 246
Renzi, Giovanni, Il mobile moderno, Gebrüder Thonet Vienna , Jacob & Josef Kohn, Silvana Editoriale, Milano, 2008, 96, 97
J.&J. Kohn Catalogues 1904 & 1907, Reedition, Editions Volutes 1900, Katalog, Volutes 1900, Reedition, Wien und Paris, 29, 106
Details
Chair: W 55 x D 55 x H 80; seat H 47 cm
Bench: W 122 x D 55 x H 80; seat H 47 cm
Stamped J.&J. Kohn, Teschen – Austria and paper label J.&J. Kohn, Wien, used from 1884 onwards
