Modern Side 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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Early 20th Century Swedish Modern Side Chairs
Beech
1920s German Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Metal
Early 20th Century French Modern Side Chairs
Brass
Early 20th Century French Modern Side Chairs
Upholstery, Giltwood
1920s Austrian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Beech
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Chrome
20th Century Modern Side Chairs
Rush, Maple
Early 2000s American Modern Side Chairs
Fabric, Wood
1850s English Antique Modern Side Chairs
Rush, Rosewood, Fabric
20th Century German Modern Side Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Side Chairs
Brass
1920s French Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Giltwood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Leather
Mid-18th Century Swedish Antique Modern Side Chairs
Wood
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Wicker
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Chrome
Early 1900s French Antique Modern Side Chairs
Upholstery, Wood, Bouclé
1920s Romanian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Cane, Beech
Early 1900s Czech Antique Modern Side Chairs
Beech, Cane
1920s Italian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Chrome
Early 20th Century Modern Side Chairs
Wood
1920s Swedish Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Linen, Birch
1920s Austrian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Wood
1920s Austrian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Beech, Bentwood, Plywood
1910s Austrian Vintage Modern Side Chairs
Iron