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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
Late 20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Wood
Late 20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Oak
Late 20th Century Unknown Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Fruitwood
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Wood
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Wood
1990s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1990s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Raffia, Wood, Lacquer
20th Century North American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Wood, Burl
Late 20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Oak
1990s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cane
1990s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Teak
Mid-20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
1960s Indian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Teak
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Canvas
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather
20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Oak
1990s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Plexiglass
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Aluminum
1970s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Walnut
1970s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Wood
20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1970s Dutch Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Pine
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Bamboo
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Belgian Black Marble
1970s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cane, Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
1970s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Aluminum
20th Century North American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wrought Iron
20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Silver Leaf
1950s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Oak
Late 20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Lacquer, Textile, Wood
20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather
Mid-20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Bamboo
20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather
Late 20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Cane, Maple
Late 20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Cane, Maple
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
Mid-20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Bouclé, Wood
Mid-20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass
1980s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Goatskin, Wood