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Post-Modern Masks

POSTMODERN STYLE

Postmodern design was a short-lived movement that manifested itself chiefly in Italy and the United States in the early 1980s. The characteristics of vintage postmodern furniture and other postmodern objects and decor for the home included loud-patterned, usually plastic surfaces; strange proportions, vibrant colors and weird angles; and a vague-at-best relationship between form and function.

ORIGINS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

  • Emerges during the 1960s; popularity explodes during the ’80s
  • A reaction to prevailing conventions of modernism by mainly American architects
  • Architect Robert Venturi critiques modern architecture in his Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)
  • Theorist Charles Jencks, who championed architecture filled with allusions and cultural references, writes The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (1977)
  • Italian design collective the Memphis Group, also known as Memphis Milano, meets for the first time (1980) 
  • Memphis collective debuts more than 50 objects and furnishings at Salone del Milano (1981)
  • Interest in style declines, minimalism gains steam

CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

  • Dizzying graphic patterns and an emphasis on loud, off-the-wall colors
  • Use of plastic and laminates, glass, metal and marble; lacquered and painted wood 
  • Unconventional proportions and abundant ornamentation
  • Playful nods to Art Deco and Pop art

POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

VINTAGE POSTMODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

Critics derided postmodern design as a grandstanding bid for attention and nothing of consequence. Decades later, the fact that postmodernism still has the power to provoke thoughts, along with other reactions, proves they were not entirely correct.

Postmodern design began as an architectural critique. Starting in the 1960s, a small cadre of mainly American architects began to argue that modernism, once high-minded and even noble in its goals, had become stale, stagnant and blandly corporate. Later, in Milan, a cohort of creators led by Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendinia onetime mentor to Sottsass and a key figure in the Italian Radical movement — brought the discussion to bear on design.

Sottsass, an industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, gathered a core group of young designers into a collective in 1980 they called Memphis. Members of the Memphis Group,  which would come to include Martine Bedin, Michael Graves, Marco Zanini, Shiro Kuramata, Michele de Lucchi and Matteo Thun, saw design as a means of communication, and they wanted it to shout. That it did: The first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 in Milan and broke all the modernist taboos, embracing irony, kitsch, wild ornamentation and bad taste.

Memphis works remain icons of postmodernism: the Sottsass Casablanca bookcase, with its leopard-print plastic veneer; de Lucchi’s First chair, which has been described as having the look of an electronics component; Martine Bedin’s Super lamp: a pull-toy puppy on a power-cord leash. Even though it preceded the Memphis Group’s formal launch, Sottsass’s iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell with radical pops of pink neon — proves striking in any space and embodies many of the collective’s postmodern ideals. 

After the initial Memphis show caused an uproar, the postmodern movement within furniture and interior design quickly took off in America. (Memphis fell out of fashion when the Reagan era gave way to cool 1990’s minimalism.) The architect Robert Venturi had by then already begun a series of plywood chairs for Knoll Inc., with beefy, exaggerated silhouettes of traditional styles such as Queen Anne and Chippendale. In 1982, the new firm Swid Powell enlisted a group of top American architects, including Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman and Venturi to create postmodern tableware in silver, ceramic and glass.

On 1stDibs, the vintage postmodern furniture collection includes chairs, coffee tables, sofas, decorative objects, table lamps and more.

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Style: Post-Modern
Bespoke Italian Amethyst Amber Gold Murano Glass Mask Wall Art Sculpture
Located in New York, NY
"For the man" Venetian Murano Glass 3D Modern Mask, in golden amber glass with 2 opposite sides in amethyst color intersecting at the top to highlight a small red accent on the foreh...
Category

2010s Italian Post-Modern Masks

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Art Glass, Murano Glass, Murrine

Bespoke Italian Amethyst Amber Gold Murano Glass Mask Wall Art Sculpture
Located in New York, NY
"For the man" Venetian Murano glass 3D Modern Mask, in golden amber glass with 2 opposite sides in amethyst color intersecting at the top to highlight a small red accent on the foreh...
Category

2010s Post-Modern Masks

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass, Murrine

Bespoke Italian Mondrian Style Blue Green Red Black Murano Glass Mask Sculpture
Located in New York, NY
Unique Venetian Murano glass 3D Modern mask, exclusive to Cosulich Interiors & Antiques, Mondrian inspired, realized in several block colors, aqua blue, turquoise, lime green, red, o...
Category

2010s Italian Post-Modern Masks

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Art Glass, Murano Glass, Murrine

Aluminium Bull Head
Located in Mexico City, CDMX
We offer this Bull Head made in solid aluminium with abstract shapes and ready for hang in your wall.
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1980s Mexican Vintage Post-Modern Masks

Materials

Aluminum

1970 Bronze Sculpture Ethnic Inspiration "Mask" Dark Color Plexiglass Base
Located in Milano, IT
Beautiful 1970 bronze sculpture ethnic inspiration "mask" dark color black and bronze with a plexiglass base.
Category

1970s Italian Vintage Post-Modern Masks

Materials

Bronze

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Post-modern masks for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a broad range of unique Post-Modern masks for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage masks created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include folk art, decorative objects and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with art glass, glass and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Post-Modern masks made in a specific country, there are Europe, Italy, and Mexico pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original masks, popular names associated with this style include and Paolo Birello. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for masks differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $895 and tops out at $5,499 while the average work can sell for $895.

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