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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1920s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
1920s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
Early 20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
1920s Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
1920s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
Early 20th Century European Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Oak
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Oak
1920s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Chrome
1910s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Mahogany, Wicker
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Belgian Black Marble
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Oak
Early 20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Giltwood
Early 20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass
20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Wood
Early 20th Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Wood
20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cane, Oak
Early 20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
1940s European Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Beech
20th Century Polish Modern Dining Room Chairs
Velvet, Beech
1940s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Beech
Mid-20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Velvet, Beech
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
Early 20th Century American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Mexican Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
20th Century Polish Modern Dining Room Chairs
Velvet, Beech
Early 1900s French Antique Modern Dining Room Chairs
Upholstery, Bentwood
Early 20th Century French Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
Early 20th Century Polish Modern Dining Room Chairs
Beech, Birch
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel
1910s French Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Mahogany
1920s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
1920s Romanian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Cane, Beech
Early 1900s Czech Antique Modern Dining Room Chairs
Beech, Cane
1920s Italian Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Belgian Black Marble
Early 20th Century Austrian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
1920s German Vintage Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome, Steel