Modern Mounted Objects
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s British Modern Mounted Objects
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
2010s North American Modern Mounted Objects
Bronze
2010s North American Modern Mounted Objects
Cement, Bronze
2010s American Modern Mounted Objects
Wood
2010s American Modern Mounted Objects
Reclaimed Wood, Paint
2010s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
1990s American Modern Mounted Objects
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Ceramic
2010s American Modern Mounted Objects
Oak
2010s American Modern Mounted Objects
Walnut
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Mounted Objects
Marble, Brass
20th Century American Modern Mounted Objects
Pyrite
2010s Finnish Modern Mounted Objects
Oak, Walnut
2010s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
1990s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Marble
2010s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
2010s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Mounted Objects
Alabaster, Brass
1930s French Vintage Modern Mounted Objects
Metal
Early 2000s French Modern Mounted Objects
Stone
2010s Modern Mounted Objects
Metal, Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Brass
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Mounted Objects
Glass
1930s Italian Vintage Modern Mounted Objects
Glass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Mounted Objects
Copper
2010s American Modern Mounted Objects
Mirror, Paint, Reclaimed Wood
20th Century Modern Mounted Objects
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Ceramic
2010s Polish Modern Mounted Objects
Glass
2010s Polish Modern Mounted Objects
Glass
Early 2000s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Ceramic, Wood, Glass
2010s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Bamboo, Wood
2010s French Modern Mounted Objects
Steel
1990s French Modern Mounted Objects
Aluminum, Steel
1990s American Modern Mounted Objects
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Mounted Objects
Steel
2010s French Modern Mounted Objects
Marble
Early 2000s American Modern Mounted Objects
Mirror, Reclaimed Wood, Paint
2010s French Modern Mounted Objects
Marble
15th Century and Earlier Antique Modern Mounted Objects
Stone
2010s American Modern Mounted Objects
Reclaimed Wood, Paint
2010s French Modern Mounted Objects
Brass
Late 20th Century Scandinavian Modern Mounted Objects
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Mounted Objects
Agate, Metal
1970s American Vintage Modern Mounted Objects
Bronze, Copper
2010s American Modern Mounted Objects
Brass
Early 2000s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Murano Glass
Early 2000s Italian Modern Mounted Objects
Murano Glass
Early 2000s American Modern Mounted Objects
Paint, Reclaimed Wood
2010s North American Modern Mounted Objects
Bronze
2010s North American Modern Mounted Objects
Bronze
Early 2000s American Modern Mounted Objects
Reclaimed Wood, Paint, Mirror
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Mounted Objects
Agate, Metal
1960s American Vintage Modern Mounted Objects
Shell, Lucite
20th Century American Modern Mounted Objects
Brass