Timeline of the chair
• Pre 12th century: three-legged stools or benches, crudely made, and purely functional…
• 12th-15th centuries: added backs and four legs – chairs! Gothic style influence furniture, often carved, high-backed and straight (think cathedral chairs)…
• 16th-17th centuries: more refined, more comfortable and more decorative. Looks as important as function. Renaissance. The church no longer the only patron of the arts; noblemen also filled this role. European kings, especially the French line of Louis XIII, XIV and XV, have great influence…. luxurious ornamentation, veneers, rich fabrics, exotic wood, stones, gold and silver…
• 18th century: richness and formality pushed even further. Rococo forms, curved lines, floral decorations, even more ornamentation. the middle and upper classes now enjoy different kinds of seating: stools, dining chairs, side chairs, armchairs, a low bench by the fire…
• 19th century: post French Revolution, Napoleonic heavy, straight neoclassical lines replaced Rococo frivolity. Large “Empire” chairs … mid-century, the Victorian era; opulent displays of wealth … heavy fabrics, like velvet, dark colors. in America the Federal movement, a colonial, classical look…
• 20th century: furniture design comes into the hands of the people … first Mission and Arts and Crafts styles… severe lines a response to Victorian excesses to industrialism… then art nouveau, modernism, art deco, and Bauhaus….
• Post World War II: modernism takes off … function-first, forthright, minimalist … light and sleek using new, inventive materials — molded plywood, plastic and chrome…