Art Nouveau Rattan Chairs
Antique Early 1900s French Art Nouveau Lounge Chairs
Bamboo, Rattan
20th Century American Organic Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Fabric, Rattan
21st Century and Contemporary French Art Nouveau Chairs
Rattan, Resin
21st Century and Contemporary French Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Wicker, Rattan
Antique 1880s Austrian Art Nouveau Lounge Chairs
Rattan, Bentwood
20th Century American Organic Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Rattan, Fabric
Vintage 1950s Austrian Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Cane, Bentwood
Antique 1880s Austrian Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Bentwood
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Lounge Chairs
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary French Art Nouveau Patio and Garden Furniture
Rattan, Resin
Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Armchairs
Rattan, Elm
Early 20th Century Belgian Art Nouveau Armchairs
Wood
Vintage 1980s Italian Art Nouveau Stools
Rattan, Beech
Late 20th Century Art Nouveau Patio and Garden Furniture
Iron, Wrought Iron
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Oak
Antique Early 1900s American Late Victorian Magazine Racks and Stands
Bamboo
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20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Patio and Garden Furniture
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2010s American Flush Mount
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21st Century and Contemporary French Art Deco Dining Room Chairs
Wicker, Rattan
2010s Spanish Country Patio and Garden Furniture
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2010s Italian Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Alabaster, Brass
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Bronze, Enamel, Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary American Wall Lights and Sconces
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21st Century and Contemporary American Wall Lights and Sconces
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2010s Table Lamps
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21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Travertine
2010s African Arts and Crafts Wall Lights and Sconces
Clay, Earthenware
20th Century American Organic Modern Dining Room Tables
Leather, Bamboo, Rattan, Glass
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Flush Mount
Brass
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Limestone
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Antique 1890s French Art Nouveau Patio and Garden Furniture
Bamboo, Rattan, Rope
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Art Nouveau Chairs
Wicker, Rattan
Vintage 1910s French Art Nouveau Lounge Chairs
Rattan
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Wicker, Rattan
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Wicker, Rattan
Antique Early 1900s French Art Nouveau Side Chairs
Rattan, Walnut
Early 20th Century English Art Nouveau Chairs
Brass
Vintage 1950s Romanian Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Rattan, Bentwood
Vintage 1970s Austrian Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Rattan, Bentwood
Vintage 1950s Romanian Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Rattan, Bentwood
Vintage 1950s Romanian Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Rattan, Bentwood
Vintage 1920s Spanish Art Nouveau Lounge Chairs
Bamboo, Wicker
Vintage 1970s Czech Art Nouveau Dining Room Chairs
Bentwood, Rattan
Antique Late 19th Century Polish Art Nouveau Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Cane, Bentwood
Vintage 1910s German Art Nouveau Armchairs
Rattan
Vintage 1950s German Bauhaus Corner Chairs
Steel
Vintage 1930s American Art Nouveau Sofas
Rattan
21st Century and Contemporary French Art Nouveau Patio and Garden Furniture
Rattan, Resin
Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Armchairs
Cane, Maple
Vintage 1950s Czech Art Nouveau Armchairs
Bentwood
Vintage 1920s Polish Art Nouveau Armchairs
Rattan, Bentwood
Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Armchairs
Cane, Elm
Vintage 1920s Austrian Art Nouveau Chairs
Rattan, Bentwood
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Brass, Iron
Vintage 1920s English Art Nouveau Chairs
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Side Chairs
Rattan
Vintage 1940s French Desks
Rattan
Vintage 1940s French Desks
Rattan
20th Century German Art Nouveau Chairs
Beech
Vintage 1910s French Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Fabric, Bamboo, Rattan
Vintage 1920s German Art Nouveau Armchairs
Beech, Rattan
Art Nouveau Rattan Chairs For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much are Art Nouveau Rattan Chairs?
A Close Look at Art Nouveau Furniture
In its sinuous lines and flamboyant curves inspired by the natural world, antique Art Nouveau furniture reflects a desire for freedom from the stuffy social and artistic strictures of the Victorian era. The Art Nouveau movement developed in the decorative arts in France and Britain in the early 1880s and quickly became a dominant aesthetic style in Western Europe and the United States.
ORIGINS OF ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerged during the late 19th century
- Popularity of this modernizing style declined in the early 20th century
- Originated in France and Britain but variants materialized elsewhere
- Informed by Rococo, Pre-Raphaelite art, Japanese art (and Japonisme), Arts and Crafts; influenced modernism, Bauhaus
CHARACTERISTICS OF ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGN
- Sinuous, organic and flowing lines
- Forms that mimic flowers and plant life
- Decorative inlays and ornate carvings of natural-world motifs such as insects and animals
- Use of hardwoods such as oak, mahogany and rosewood
ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
ANTIQUE ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
Art Nouveau — which spanned furniture, architecture, jewelry and graphic design — can be easily identified by its lush, flowing forms suggested by flowers and plants, as well as the lissome tendrils of sea life. Although Art Deco and Art Nouveau were both in the forefront of turn-of-the-20th-century design, they are very different styles — Art Deco is marked by bold, geometric shapes while Art Nouveau incorporates dreamlike, floral motifs. The latter’s signature motif is the "whiplash" curve — a deep, narrow, dynamic parabola that appears as an element in everything from chair arms to cabinetry and mirror frames.
The visual vocabulary of Art Nouveau was particularly influenced by the soft colors and abstract images of nature seen in Japanese art prints, which arrived in large numbers in the West after open trade was forced upon Japan in the 1860s. Impressionist artists were moved by the artistic tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking, and Japonisme — a term used to describe the appetite for Japanese art and culture in Europe at the time — greatly informed Art Nouveau.
The Art Nouveau style quickly reached a wide audience in Europe via advertising posters, book covers, illustrations and other work by such artists as Aubrey Beardsley, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha. While all Art Nouveau designs share common formal elements, different countries and regions produced their own variants.
In Scotland, the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh developed a singular, restrained look based on scale rather than ornament; a style best known from his narrow chairs with exceedingly tall backs, designed for Glasgow tea rooms. Meanwhile in France, Hector Guimard — whose iconic 1896 entry arches for the Paris Metro are still in use — and Louis Majorelle produced chairs, desks, bed frames and cabinets with sweeping lines and rich veneers.
The Art Nouveau movement was known as Jugendstil ("Youth Style") in Germany, and in Austria the designers of the Vienna Secession group — notably Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich — produced a relatively austere iteration of the Art Nouveau style, which mixed curving and geometric elements.
Art Nouveau revitalized all of the applied arts. Ceramists such as Ernest Chaplet and Edmond Lachenal created new forms covered in novel and rediscovered glazes that produced thick, foam-like finishes. Bold vases, bowls and lighting designs in acid-etched and marquetry cameo glass by Émile Gallé and the Daum Freres appeared in France, while in New York the glass workshop-cum-laboratory of Louis Comfort Tiffany — the core of what eventually became a multimedia decorative-arts manufactory called Tiffany Studios — brought out buoyant pieces in opalescent favrile glass.
Jewelry design was revolutionized, as settings, for the first time, were emphasized as much as, or more than, gemstones. A favorite Art Nouveau jewelry motif was insects (think of Tiffany, in his famed Dragonflies glass lampshade).
Like a mayfly, Art Nouveau was short-lived. The sensuous, languorous style fell out of favor early in the 20th century, deemed perhaps too light and insubstantial for European tastes in the aftermath of World War I. But as the designs on 1stDibs demonstrate, Art Nouveau retains its power to fascinate and seduce.
There are ways to tastefully integrate a touch of Art Nouveau into even the most modern interior — browse an extraordinary collection of original antique Art Nouveau furniture on 1stDibs, which includes decorative objects, seating, tables, garden elements and more.
Finding the Right Seating for You
With entire areas of our homes reserved for “sitting rooms,” the value of quality antique and vintage seating cannot be overstated.
Fortunately, the design of side chairs, armchairs and other lounge furniture — since what were, quite literally, the early perches of our ancestors — has evolved considerably.
Among the earliest standard seating furniture were stools. Egyptian stools, for example, designed for one person with no seat back, were x-shaped and typically folded to be tucked away. These rudimentary chairs informed the design of Greek and Roman stools, all of which were a long way from Sori Yanagi's Butterfly stool or Alvar Aalto's Stool 60. In the 18th century and earlier, seats with backs and armrests were largely reserved for high nobility.
The seating of today is more inclusive but the style and placement of chairs can still make a statement. Antique desk chairs and armchairs designed in the style of Louis XV, which eventually included painted furniture and were often made of rare woods, feature prominently curved legs as well as Chinese themes and varied ornaments. Much like the thrones of fairy tales and the regency, elegant lounges crafted in the Louis XV style convey wealth and prestige. In the kitchen, the dining chair placed at the head of the table is typically reserved for the head of the household or a revered guest.
Of course, with luxurious vintage or antique furnishings, every chair can seem like the best seat in the house. Whether your preference is stretching out on a plush sofa, such as the Serpentine, designed by Vladimir Kagan, or cozying up in a vintage wingback chair, there is likely to be a comfy classic or contemporary gem for you on 1stDibs.
With respect to the latest obsessions in design, cane seating has been cropping up everywhere, from sleek armchairs to lounge chairs, while bouclé fabric, a staple of modern furniture design, can be seen in mid-century modern, Scandinavian modern and Hollywood Regency furniture styles.
Admirers of the sophisticated craftsmanship and dark woods frequently associated with mid-century modern seating can find timeless furnishings in our expansive collection of lounge chairs, dining chairs and other items — whether they’re vintage editions or alluring official reproductions of iconic designs from the likes of Hans Wegner or from Charles and Ray Eames. Shop our inventory of Egg chairs, designed in 1958 by Arne Jacobsen, the Florence Knoll lounge chair and more.
No matter your style, the collection of unique chairs, sofas and other seating on 1stDibs is surely worthy of a standing ovation.