… only chairs? Children’s chairs from Sammlung Neuwald

The history of the children’s chair has a special role in design history. While the invention of the chair dates back to Antiquity, only from the 17th century onwards is there evidence of chairs made specially for children, albeit the privilege of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, however, in the course of industrialization the children’s chair became a design genre in its own right – and it is ideal to identify the development of new construction methods and the use of modern materials.

In cooperation with the Dept. of Spatial Art and Light Design attached to the TU Munich’s Architectural Faculty, Die Neue Sammlung is presenting selected children’s chairs from the collection of Munich-based Gisela Neuwald, who since the 1970s has brought together more than 290 chairs from all over the world. As part of a research project, these have been studied closely by students from the TU. The presentation this has prompted will be located on the second upper level of Pinakothek der Moderne and offer a comprehensive overview of all the different aspects of the children’s chair.