Modern Chairs
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Italian Modern Chairs
Velvet
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Bouclé
1950s European Vintage Modern Chairs
Velvet, Ash
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Plywood, Canvas
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Leather, Wood
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Rush, Ash
1950s Scandinavian Vintage Modern Chairs
Bouclé, Beech
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Rope, Ash
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Rope, Ash
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Wood, Leather
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Rope, Ash
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Cotton, Wood
1950s European Vintage Modern Chairs
Aluminum
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Straw, Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Chairs
Steel, Chrome
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Bouclé, Walnut
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Cane, Ash
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Rattan, Wood
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Wood
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Straw, Ash
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Cane, Ash
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Linen, Oak