It begins in 1945 with such achievements as the highly sculptural plywood chairs of Charles and Ray Eames, who were among the first to use organic shapes derived from the natural world. Revolutionary 1950s designs, including Harry Bertoia's wire Diamond chairs--"studies in space, form and metal"--and Eero Saarinen's futuristic Pedestal Group, were followed in the late 1950s by the rise of consumerism--and the eccentricities of kitsch--which in turn...