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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s Argentine Modern Lounge Chairs
Wood
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Brass
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Hardwood
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Lounge Chairs
Wool, Foam
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
1980s American Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Rosewood
Early 2000s Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Fiberglass
Late 20th Century French Modern Lounge Chairs
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Ash
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
2010s French Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
1970s American Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Ultrasuede
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Gold Leaf
2010s Balkan Modern Lounge Chairs
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Lounge Chairs
Bouclé, Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Lounge Chairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Ash
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Ash
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Hardwood
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Textile, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Fabric
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Lounge Chairs
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
1990s Swedish Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Greek Modern Lounge Chairs
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
2010s South African Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
2010s American Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
Late 20th Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
2010s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Lounge Chairs
Wood