Modern Easels
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Late 20th Century Modern Easels
Metal
1970s Vintage Modern Easels
Stainless Steel, Chrome
2010s American Modern Easels
Brass, Stainless Steel
2010s American Modern Easels
Bronze
2010s Spanish Modern Easels
Iron
2010s Spanish Modern Easels
Iron
2010s Spanish Modern Easels
Iron
Late 20th Century Modern Easels
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Easels
Cut Steel
2010s American Modern Easels
Lucite
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Easels
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Easels
Brass
2010s American Modern Easels
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Easels
Steel, Chrome
1980s European Vintage Modern Easels
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Easels
Lucite
1960s Dutch Vintage Modern Easels
Wood
1950s Mexican Vintage Modern Easels
Pine
Mid-20th Century Danish Modern Easels
Rosewood
Early 1900s English Antique Modern Easels
Elm, Oak
20th Century American Modern Easels
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Easels
Brass
20th Century French Modern Easels
Wood
Late 20th Century American Modern Easels
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Modern Easels
Teak
Late 20th Century European Modern Easels
Lucite
1980s American Vintage Modern Easels
Silver Plate
Late 19th Century American Antique Modern Easels
Wood
2010s American Modern Easels
Bronze
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Easels
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Easels
Acrylic, Lucite
1920s French Vintage Modern Easels
Pine
2010s French Modern Easels
Oak
Mid-20th Century American Modern Easels
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Easels
Acrylic, Lucite