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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s French Modern Chairs
Wool, Foam, Wood
2010s Portuguese Modern Chairs
Stainless Steel
2010s Belgian Modern Chairs
Chestnut
Late 20th Century Modern Chairs
Chrome
2010s Portuguese Modern Chairs
Bronze
2010s American Modern Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Chairs
Steel, Chrome
20th Century Mexican Modern Chairs
Metal, Iron
2010s German Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s Lebanese Modern Chairs
Concrete
2010s American Modern Chairs
Fabric, Foam, Hardwood, Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Czech Modern Chairs
Wood, Birch
2010s Swiss Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s Philippine Modern Chairs
Aluminum
2010s English Modern Chairs
Wool, Bouclé
2010s French Modern Chairs
Wood
2010s American Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Portuguese Modern Chairs
Stainless Steel
2010s German Modern Chairs
Steel
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Chairs
Rope, Oak
2010s Belgian Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s Lebanese Modern Chairs
Concrete
2010s German Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s American Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s German Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s American Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Portuguese Modern Chairs
Bouclé
2010s Portuguese Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Danish Modern Chairs
Natural Fiber, Foam
2010s American Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s American Modern Chairs
Wood, Ash
2010s American Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s German Modern Chairs
Oak
2010s French Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Brazilian Modern Chairs
Stainless Steel
2010s French Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Danish Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s German Modern Chairs
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Chairs
Wood
2010s Austrian Modern Chairs
Fiberglass
2010s Italian Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s German Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s German Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s German Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s Portuguese Modern Chairs
Stainless Steel
2010s American Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Portuguese Modern Chairs
Fabric, Oak
2010s American Modern Chairs
Metal
2010s Brazilian Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s Brazilian Modern Chairs
Stainless Steel
2010s Brazilian Modern Chairs
Stainless Steel
2010s German Modern Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Chairs
Velvet, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Chairs
Walnut, Wicker
2010s Brazilian Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s French Modern Chairs
Resin
2010s American Modern Chairs
Steel
2010s American Modern Chairs
Metal