Cleveland Museum of Art – Breuer Building

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Finished in 1971, the addition to the Cleveland Museum of Art, designed by Marcel Breuer, adds several different programmatic spaces to the museum. The Expansion added the new north entrance, lobby space, classrooms, lecture halls, an auditorium and additional gallery space (Dodd, Mead, and Company 80). The Breuer wing of the museum was done in the Bauhaus style of architecture. The Bauhaus according to Burton Wasserman was more than just clean-cut modern design; it was a place where more powerful ideas and creative action were vigorously generated by talented and lively people (Wasserman). Breuer worked in the Bauhaus style for most of his architecture career. Marcel Breuer, born in the early 1900’s in Hungary, was one of the first and youngest students to learn under the Bauhaus style, taught by Walter Gropius. Breuer started his career designing furniture, using tubular, or “handle bar like”, steel (Dodd, Mead, and Company 32). One of the most popular of these furniture designs was his Club Chair B3designed in 1922. In the 1930’s, Breuer moved to the United States to teach and practice architecture. In the 1950’s, he received the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Between 1960 and 1980, Breuer was honored with several honorary doctoral degrees from several universities around the world. After retiring in 1976 due to poor health, Breuer was awarded several other awards, and his work was displayed in exhibitions around the world. Breuer died on July 2nd, 1981, at the age of 79 (Marcel Breuer Associates 6). The 1971 expansion of the Cleveland Museum of Art was a milestone for the city and the cultural community. Marcel Breuer had been in Cleveland designing the AT tower, when... ... middle of paper ... ...ch allows the person to enter the glass atrium connecting all of the wings of the building, which was added in 2012. Breuer was honored with the commission after he had shown his design abilities in other aspects throughout the city. The museum expansion was just one of the few of Breuer’s designs that still stand today. Breuer’s work in both furniture design and architecture has been around for many years, and will continue to be around for many more to come. Works Cited “Cleveland Museum of Art: Building,” Cleveland Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. Web. 25 March, 2014. Dodd, Mead, and Company, Marcel Breuer: Sun and Shadow. New York: Print. Marcel Breuer Associates, . The Legacy of Marcel Breuer. 32. Tokyo, Japan: Architecture Publishing Co., 1982. Print. Wasserman, Burton. "Bauhaus 50." Art Education. 22.9 (Dec. 1969): 17-21. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

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