Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Mid-20th Century American Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Paper
Late 20th Century Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Glass, Wood
Early 20th Century Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Brass
Late 20th Century American Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Wool
1980s American Vintage Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Gold Leaf
1970s Vintage Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Silk
1920s British Vintage Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Leather
1860s American Antique Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Paper
1860s American Antique Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Paper
Mid-20th Century Dutch Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Paper
Early 1900s British Antique Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Leather
1860s American Antique Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Paper
1940s Australian Vintage Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Felt
Mid-20th Century American Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Paper
Mid-20th Century American Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Paper
Late 20th Century Modern Political and Patriotic Memorabilia
Glass, Wood