Illustrated FURNITURE Glossary..... International Style Architecture

Furniture - Modern Style
Also called Modernism
1925-1950

Proportion Small to medium, generally delicate.

Essential elements Innovative forms. Industrial materials. Minimal decoration.

Materials Tubular steel and other metals. Pine for lacquered or painted pieces; teak, mahogany, or rosewood for luxurious pieces. Plywood. Plastic.

Notable forms All types, particularly the chair with cantilevered seat.

- Marvin D. Schwartz, American Furniture: Tables, Chairs, Sofas and Beds. 2000

The modern movement in furniture design began in the late 19th century with the emergence of the Arts and Crafts movement in England and Art Nouveau in France. During the 1920s, two important decorative styles evolved, Bauhaus and Art Deco, which reflect, in part, radical innovations in painting and sculpture.

Bauhaus / International Style

Bauhaus style derived from the Bauhaus, a school of art and design founded in Germany in 1919. More innovative than Art Deco, Bauhaus design, also known as the International style, focused on new industrial materials, machine production, and severely functional forms totally unrelated to those of the past. The designers were motivated by a desire to create furnishings that were functional and made of materials used in modern architecture and that could be mass-produced while remaining attractive and comfortable. The movement was concerned not only with design but also with materials. It recognized that mass production was most suited to industrial products such as chrome, steel, plastic, and glass. Slim lines, a bold streamlined look, and a highly functional character typify modern furniture.

America

Many of the Bauhaus's finest designers, including Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, emigrated to America when the rise of Hitler closed the Bauhaus, and after 1940 the U. S. became the center for this movement.

Because the innovations of Bauhaus design have become virtually synonymous with modern design, furniture in this style is commonly called"modern." The tubular-steel chair with cantilevered seat became a symbol of the modern age, and was much imitated by American manufacturers.

The modern style remains the dominant theme in interior design even today, although the movement has undergone various modifications over the years. Wood, largely repudiated in the 1930s, is once more popular, spurred on by new designs and the sophisticated use of lamination.

The introduction after World War II of new plastics and molding techniques has resulted in a generation of molded plastic furnishings. Epitomizing this approach were Charles Eames's revolutionary plywood or plastic chairs, molded to the shape of the human body.

Finally, while the earliest designers in the modern vein were concerned with mass-produced works, craftsmen after World War II have turned again to handmade, highly individualistic pieces. Produced in small quantities, these are already attracting collectors' attention.

Examples from Buffalo:

Other examples:

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Photos and their arrangement © 2005 Chuck LaChiusa
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