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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Oak
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Birch
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood, Walnut
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood, Maple
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Birch
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Aluminum
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
1940s Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Upholstery, Wood, Trimming, Cherry
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood, Upholstery
1960s Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Walnut
Mid-20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Walnut
Mid-20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Wood
1990s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Nylon, Wood
1970s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Stainless Steel
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cotton, Wood
1960s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1950s Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Maple
1990s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
Early 2000s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
1960s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Mahogany
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Nylon, Birch
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Iron
1940s Dutch Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cord, Straw, Oak
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass
1940s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Velvet, Walnut
1940s American Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Velvet, Wood
1940s English Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Maple
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Rush, Walnut
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Mahogany, Upholstery
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Silk, Walnut
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Teak