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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Spanish Modern Chairs
Metal
Mid-20th Century French Modern Chairs
Straw, Pine
20th Century Spanish Modern Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
1980s Vintage Modern Chairs
Beech, Bentwood, Plywood
2010s Spanish Modern Chairs
Upholstery, Velvet, Wood
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
1980s European Vintage Modern Chairs
Aluminum
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Steel
1990s Italian Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s German Modern Chairs
Leather, Ash
2010s Italian Modern Chairs
Resin
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Lacquer
2010s Philippine Modern Chairs
Steel
Early 2000s Italian Modern Chairs
Oak
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Aluminum
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Iron
1990s Austrian Modern Chairs
Fabric, Silk, Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Chairs
Bouclé, Wood, Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Chairs
Fabric, Oak, Wood, Walnut
2010s Portuguese Modern Chairs
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Chairs
Steel, Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Wood, Cedar
Early 20th Century European Modern Chairs
Wood
1990s Austrian Modern Chairs
Fabric, Silk, Wood
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
Early 2000s Italian Modern Chairs
Leather
Mid-20th Century French Modern Chairs
Straw, Pine
2010s Italian Modern Chairs
Upholstery, Velvet, Wood, Walnut, Plywood
2010s Spanish Modern Chairs
Other
2010s Italian Modern Chairs
Metal
1990s Austrian Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Chairs
Fabric, Upholstery, Wood
2010s German Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s Spanish Modern Chairs
Other
1990s Austrian Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Dutch Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s Belgian Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s German Modern Chairs
Suede, Ash
1970s European Vintage Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s French Modern Chairs
Aluminum
2010s Belgian Modern Chairs
Walnut
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Chairs
Metal
1980s French Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Brass
2010s Portuguese Modern Chairs
Fabric, Wood, Beech
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Chairs
Leather, Fabric, Jacquard, Velvet