Modern Rocking 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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Metal
1980s Unknown Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Fabric, Birch
1980s American Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Wood, Walnut
1980s American Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Wood, Oak, Cane
1980s American Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Wood
1980s Mexican Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Wood
1980s American Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Stainless Steel
20th Century Modern Rocking Chairs
1960s American Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Wood
Early 2000s Swedish Modern Rocking Chairs
Metal
1970s Norwegian Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Upholstery, Wood
1970s Brazilian Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Cane, Wood
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Sheepskin, Oak
1960s Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Upholstery, Walnut
Late 20th Century American Modern Rocking Chairs
Oak, Ash
1950s Danish Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Velvet, Oak
1950s American Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Upholstery, Walnut
20th Century American Modern Rocking Chairs
Walnut
Mid-20th Century Unknown Modern Rocking Chairs
Rattan
1980s American Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Birch
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Wood, Cane
1980s Unknown Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Iron
1980s Swedish Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Beech
1980s Mexican Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Wood
1980s American Vintage Modern Rocking Chairs
Chrome