Its official name is the “No. 14 chair,” but you know it as the classic “bistro chair”—that modest constellation of curves and circles fashioned from steam-bent Beechwood, or “bentwood.” Created by the German cabinetmaker Michael Thonet for the Thonet chair company, it was introduced in 1859 and was wildly influential on modern design. How influential? “Bentwood and Beyond” places the 19th-century chair in a 20th-century context. —L.J.