The Secession office chair no.6150 is a classic piece of furniture designed by the influential Austrian architect and designer Adolf Loos in the early 20th century. It was executed by Thonet, a renowned manufacturer of bentwood furniture. The chair features a simple and elegant design that reflects Loos's rejection of ornamentation and his preference for functionality and clarity. The chair has a curved backrest and armrests that are made of bentwood and stained in a dark color. The chair rests on four tapered legs that are connected by crossbars for stability. This chair is unmarked.
Adolf Loos was an Austrian architect, designer, and critic who made a significant contribution to the development of the Modern Movement. He was influenced by his stay in the United States from 1893 to 1896, where he discovered the work of Louis Sullivan in Chicago. He developed a strong aversion to ornamentation and advocated for simplicity, rationality, and functionality in architecture and design. He wrote influential essays such as Spoken into the Void (1900) and Ornament and Crime (1908), where he denounced the Viennese Secession movement and argued that ornament was a waste of material, labor, and capital.
Loos designed many buildings, interiors, and furniture pieces, both for public and private clients. Some of his most famous projects including the Café Museum (1899) in Vienna; the Villa Karma (1904–06) in Clarens, Switzerland; and the Tristan Tzara House (1926) in Paris. His furniture design was characterized by geometric simplicity, elegant proportions, and high-quality materials. He often used bentwood techniques pioneered by Thonet and Kohn to create curved wooden structures with elliptical sections.
Loos was a visionary and influential figure in the history of modern architecture and design. He inspired many architects and designers who followed him, such as Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Eileen Gray. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of modernism in Austria and Europe.