Armchair, model no. 718 F/B

Yet to receive the credit he deserves, Otto Wagner was the patriarch of Viennese modernity. Among his students were Adolf Loos, Josef Maria Olbrich, Josef Hoffmann and Leopold Bauer to name a few. This chair precedes a variant armchair (1904-06) designed for his famous Postal Savings Bank in Vienna. The chair form was subsequently produced commercially in several variations by J. & J. Kohn and the rival firm Gebrüder Thonet which likewise produced furnishings for the Savings Bank. Wagner was the first of his colleagues to incorporate aluminum into his interior elements and furniture.