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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Teak
1960s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass
Mid-20th Century Unknown Modern Dining Room Chairs
Faux Leather, Oak
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1960s Romanian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Beech
20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Oak
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood, Pine
Mid-20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1970s Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
Mid-20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Straw, Pine
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Beech
1970s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Lacquer
Mid-20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Cane, Maple
1970s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Elm
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Oak
Mid-20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Straw, Pine
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood, Lacquer, Cane
1990s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Oak, Bentwood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Walnut
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cane, Maple
1990s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood, Beech
1960s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cane, Oak
1980s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric
1960s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1970s Finnish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Birch
1980s German Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
Mid-20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Pine, Straw
1960s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric
20th Century English Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Birch
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
Mid-20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Teak
1960s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Aluminum
1990s Danish Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Oak
Late 20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1970s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1960s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1970s German Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
1960s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1970s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1950s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Walnut
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Teak
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood, Walnut
1990s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Maple
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1920s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
1950s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
1990s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Plywood