Modern Dining Room 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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1990s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
2010s Danish Modern Dining Room Chairs
Aluminum
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Plywood, Teak
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
Mid-20th Century Unknown Modern Dining Room Chairs
Faux Leather, Oak
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
Late 20th Century Chinese Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wrought Iron
1970s German Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
1980s Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1970s Dutch Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal, Stainless Steel
1980s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Lucite
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1990s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Teak
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather
1980s Spanish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Aluminum
Early 2000s Dutch Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fiberglass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass
2010s Portuguese Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Hardwood
1980s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Acrylic, Fabric
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Wood
2010s German Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
2010s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Sheepskin, Wood, Oak
2010s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Sheepskin, Wood, Oak
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Poplar
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Indonesian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Teak
2010s Dutch Modern Dining Room Chairs
Plastic
2010s Dutch Modern Dining Room Chairs
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
2010s Dutch Modern Dining Room Chairs
Plastic
2010s Dutch Modern Dining Room Chairs
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Plastic
2010s South African Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Beech
2010s European Modern Dining Room Chairs
Rattan, Wood, Faux Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Ash
2010s Portuguese Modern Dining Room Chairs
Faux Leather, Wood
2010s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cane, Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Brazilian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
2010s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
2010s Portuguese Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Dining Room Chairs
Bouclé, Wood
2010s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Oak
2010s Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood, Upholstery, Walnut, Oak, Pine
20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cane, Oak