MARCEL BREUER IN MINNESOTA

August 27, 2002

For Immediate Release: August 14, 2002

Media Exhibition Contact: Tammy Pleshek, P.R. Asst. (612) 870-3171 Additional Contacts: Lynette Nyman, P.R. Specialist (612) 870-3173 and Anne-Marie Wagener, Dir. Press and P.R. (612) 870-3280.

MARCEL BREUER IN MINNESOTA September 7 - November 3, 2002 The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Minneapolis, MINNESOTA - Hungarian-born Marcel Breuer (1902 - 1981) is regarded as one of the most important modern architects/designers of the twentieth century. A new exhibition, opening September 7, at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts celebrates the hundred-year anniversary of Breuer's birth. The exhibition features drawings, models, and photographs of his Minnesota projects, including the Abbey Church and campus at St. John's University in Collegeville, and two house projects, as well as his furniture designs from the Institute's collection.

As a young art student in Vienna, Breuer heard about a new, experimental design school in Germany, the Bauhaus, begun by Walter Gropius. In 1920, the eighteen-year-old Breuer arrived at the Bauhaus. It was there that some of his most famous and identifiable designs were conceived. Breuer developed a whole range of tubular steel furniture that was inspired by a bicycle he purchased in 1925. His "Wassily" chair, named for artist friend Wassily Kandinsky, is now a modern icon and represented in Marcel Breuer in Minnesota. Also featured in the exhibition are Breuer's tubular steel nest of tables, part of the Norwest Collection of Modernism gift to the Institute. Despite the success of his tubular steel furniture, he went on to explore and master the use of other materials, including plywood. This is evident in Breuer's mid-1930s bent plywood chaise, also included in the exhibition, for the British firm Isokon. The sculptural presence and complex curves of the chaise prefigures Breuer's dynamic forms in concrete decades later.

Breuer left the Bauhaus in 1928 and eventually immigrated to the United States where he practiced architecture with Gropius for a decade before opening his own successful architectural office. His buildings are as visually arresting as his furniture, and he ultimately became one of the most important and highly commissioned architects of his generation. Breuer designed two houses in Minnesota: The Starkey house in Duluth and a home for designer and collector, Frank Kacmarcik. The Starkey house in Duluth shows Breuer at his dramatic best. The house, on a stunning hilltop site overlooking Lake Superior, was cantilevered out from the hill, supported on wood columns supported by metal rods, resulting in an open lower level with an outdoor fireplace. The Kacmarcik home, which was designed on a much smaller budget, was nestled into a wooded hill in easternmost St. Paul overlooking the downtown skyline. It includes an open-plan kitchen-dining-living area and a generous library.

In 1953, Breuer was invited along with eleven other internationally known European and American architects to consider the design of a new monastery at St. John's. He impressed the building committee and was selected to create a hundred-year master plan for the development of the monastery and the campus. Of the nine buildings in Breuer's plan, the most visually stunning is the Abbey Church, which is a triumph of concrete engineering, with its folded exterior walls. The Benedictine community embraced Breuer's bold forms, and he in turn felt St. John's to be one of his most satisfying projects.

Marcel Breuer in Minnesota runs September 7 through November 3, 2002, in Galleries 242 and 243. Admission is free.

This exhibition is supported by the Institute's Architecture and Design partner, Gabberts Furniture & Design Studio.

Exhibition-Related Events Marcel Breuer's America: Architecture in a New Context Explore Marcel Breuer's architectural response to the American landscape, both urban rural. This seminar will focus on Breuer's work in the United States with particular emphasis on his changing vision of modernism, expressed in his projects at St. John's University in Collegeville and the Whitney Museum in New York City. Instructor: Janet Whitmore Section S103, Saturday, September 14, 1 - 4 p.m.; Fee: $45 ($30 member)

A "Dinner with Marcel Breuer" will be held on Friday, October 25, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Curator Jennifer Komar Olivarez will speak about Breuer's career at the three-course dinner with wine in ArtsCafe, served by D'Amico Catering. A guided tour of the exhibition Marcel Breuer in Minnesota is included. Cost for members is $50 per person; nonmembers, $60. For reservations call (612) 870-6323 or toll-free at (888) 642-2787, ext. 6323. Seating is limited.

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