Modern Armchairs
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”
Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.
Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
Late 20th Century Austrian Modern Armchairs
Leather, Beech
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Beech
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Beech
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Armchairs
Wood
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Modern Armchairs
Beech, Bentwood
Early 20th Century German Modern Armchairs
Chrome
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Modern Armchairs
Beech, Bentwood
Early 20th Century Czech Modern Armchairs
Chrome
Early 20th Century Austrian Modern Armchairs
Beech
1930s Austrian Vintage Modern Armchairs
Beech, Cane
2010s Italian Modern Armchairs
Wool, Upholstery, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Armchairs
Velvet, Walnut
1850s Italian Antique Modern Armchairs
Upholstery, Walnut
1930s Austrian Vintage Modern Armchairs
Beech, Bentwood
1910s Austrian Vintage Modern Armchairs
Fabric, Beech, Bentwood
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Modern Armchairs
Beech
1980s Austrian Vintage Modern Armchairs
Fabric, Bentwood
1940s Austrian Vintage Modern Armchairs
Jute, Beech, Bentwood