Hercules Barsotti

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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.

More often than not, vintage mid-century Brazilian furniture designs, with their gleaming wood, soft leathers and inviting shapes, share a sensuous, unique quality that distinguishes them from the more rectilinear output of American and Scandinavian makers of the same era.

Commencing in the 1940s and '50s, a group of architects and designers transformed the local cultural landscape in Brazil, merging the modernist vernacular popular in Europe and the United States with the South American country's traditional techniques and indigenous materials.

Key mid-century influencers on Brazilian furniture design include natives Oscar Niemeyer, Sergio Rodrigues and José Zanine Caldas as well as such European immigrants as Joaquim Tenreiro, Jean Gillon and Jorge Zalszupin. These creators frequently collaborated; for instance, Niemeyer, an internationally acclaimed architect, commissioned many of them to furnish his residential and institutional buildings.

The popularity of Brazilian modern furniture has made household names of these designers and other greats. Their particular brand of modernism is characterized by an émigré point of view (some were Lithuanian, German, Polish, Ukrainian, Portuguese, and Italian), a preference for highly figured indigenous Brazilian woods, a reverence for nature as an inspiration and an atelier or small-production mentality.

Hallmarks of Brazilian mid-century design include smooth, sculptural forms and the use of native woods like rosewood, jacaranda and pequi. The work of designers today exhibits many of the same qualities, though with a marked interest in exploring new materials (witness the Campana Brothers' stuffed-animal chairs) and an emphasis on looking inward rather than to other countries for inspiration.

Find a collection of vintage Brazilian furniture on 1stDibs that includes chairs, sofas, tables and more.

When paired with the perfect frame, the right antique and vintage paintings and other wall decorations can either subtly showcase your personality or steal the show altogether. 

The earliest paintings were created on the walls of caves, proving even our ancient ancestors knew that striking artwork is meant to be on display. Cave paintings on an Indonesian island are reportedly older than the earliest cave art in Spain and France, and the figurative paintings back then were produced with inorganic pigments like iron oxide.

Later, the people of Ancient Greece — who learned about art from the Egyptians before them — conceived panel paintings of wax and tempera that were collected and publicly displayed. In the centuries that followed, artists would be commissioned to create large-scale wall murals and frescoed ceilings in sprawling European palaces and in the homes of the aristocracy.

Today, 1stDibs makes it easy for you to celebrate this rich history in your own home. Our collection of paintings includes Art Deco paintings, baroque art and a broad range of other categories. Search by material, period or other attributes to find the right fit — browse an array of 19th century landscape paintings in giltwood frames or abstract oil paintings and portraits made during the 1950s and ‘60s.

An understated contemporary work can complement your space’s color palette without drawing the focus away from the other pivotal design choices you’ve made over the years. Roy Lichtenstein’s Pop art, on the other hand, demands attention with its array of vibrant hues and subjects inspired by popular culture. 

Whether you aim to create a gallery in your home or build a single, stunning focal point, you can find what you’re looking for in an extensive inventory of paintings on 1stDibs.