Marcel Breuer, Pennsylvania State Exhibition, World’s Fair, NY. Detail of Anthracite Wall, 1939.
In the summer of 1938, Gropius and Breuer were appointed architects-in-chief of the Pennsylvania State Exhibition for the New York World’s Fair. Herbert Bayer and Xanti Schawinsky (both formerly associated with the Bauhaus) helped with planning and the design of displays. Gropius and Breuer’s exhibition devoted to the natural resources of the state and its contribution to American democracy was housed in a replica of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Anthracite walls flanked the entrance to the Hall of Democracy, which was bookended by the Hall of Progress and the Hall of Tradition. Breuer also designed the furniture for the exhibition, including the cut-out plywood armchairs arranged against the anthracite walls.
Design is fine. History is mine. 