Modern Lounge 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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Stainless Steel, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
20th Century Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Lounge Chairs
Foam
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Lounge Chairs
Foam
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
1950s European Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal, Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
1970s American Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Chrome
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
1960s Norwegian Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Lounge Chairs
Foam
20th Century American Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Upholstery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
Early 2000s Finnish Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
20th Century Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Lounge Chairs
Marble
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Velvet
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
1990s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Lounge Chairs
Foam
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Lounge Chairs
Chrome
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric
1970s French Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Chrome
Early 2000s German Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
1960s American Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Nickel
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
20th Century Swedish Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel