Modern Shadow Boxes
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”
Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.
Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Shadow Boxes
Plastic
Early 2000s American Modern Shadow Boxes
Metal
Late 20th Century American Modern Shadow Boxes
Acrylic, Paper
2010s American Modern Shadow Boxes
Brass
1960s American Vintage Modern Shadow Boxes
Canvas
1970s American Vintage Modern Shadow Boxes
Silk, Acrylic
Late 20th Century American Modern Shadow Boxes
Lucite, Paper
1960s German Vintage Modern Shadow Boxes
Metal
Mid-20th Century Belgian Modern Shadow Boxes
Wood
1980s American Vintage Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary English Modern Shadow Boxes
Silk, Paint
19th Century Chinese Antique Modern Shadow Boxes
Silk
1970s Spanish Vintage Modern Shadow Boxes
Glass, Wood
1990s American Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper
1990s Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper
1980s Vintage Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Shadow Boxes
Pink Coral
1990s American Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper
Early 2000s Spanish Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper
1990s French Modern Shadow Boxes
Silk
Late 20th Century American Modern Shadow Boxes
Acrylic, Paper
Late 20th Century American Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper
2010s Canadian Modern Shadow Boxes
Canvas, Ash
Late 20th Century Modern Shadow Boxes
Organic Material
Late 20th Century Modern Shadow Boxes
Organic Material
20th Century American Modern Shadow Boxes
Linen, String, Lucite
1960s North American Vintage Modern Shadow Boxes
Ceramic, Wood
1980s American Vintage Modern Shadow Boxes
Canvas, Wood
2010s American Modern Shadow Boxes
Glass, Maple, Paper
2010s American Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper, Glass, Maple
2010s American Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper, Glass, Maple
2010s American Modern Shadow Boxes
Paper, Glass, Maple