Lenn Kanenson
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Acrylic
People Also Browsed
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
Vintage 1930s French Art Deco Paintings
Wood, Paper
Mid-20th Century Paintings and Screens
Stone
20th Century English Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
Vintage 1930s Chinese Chinoiserie More Asian Art, Objects and Furniture
Wood
Vintage 1920s Italian Art Deco Magazine Racks and Stands
Walnut
20th Century French Art Deco Screens and Room Dividers
2010s American Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Nickel
Early 2000s American Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
Antique Late 19th Century English Screens and Room Dividers
Glass, Boxwood, Ebony, Mahogany, Satinwood, Walnut, Wood
Mid-20th Century Japanese Anglo-Japanese Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
Late 20th Century Chinese Chinoiserie Screens and Room Dividers
Brass, Metal
20th Century Italian Neoclassical Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
Vintage 1960s Danish Scandinavian Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Rattan, Beech
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
20th Century Neoclassical Paintings and Screens
Canvas, Wood
Finding the Right screens-room-dividers for You
Whether they are implemented as decorative accents or makeshift partitions to ensure privacy, antique and vintage folding screens and room dividers easily introduce sophistication and depth to any space in your home.
The earliest examples of folding screens are said to have originated in China and go back at least as far as the Han dynasty. Screens of the era were heavy structures made of wood and had hinges of cloth or leather. They were adorned with elaborate landscape paintings that were typically created on silk or paper canvases and applied directly to the screen’s panels afterward. Just as they had been in the 20th century and today, the folding screens then were recognized for both their practical and purely decorative properties.
Japanese room-divider screens were also decorated with paintings but constructed to be lightweight and mobile. They took on considerable event-based importance when the structures gained popularity in the East Asian country, as the folding screens were used in performing arts such as concerts, tea ceremonies and more. Later, artists elsewhere warmed to folding screens and sought to create their own.
In European countries such as France, where they were known as paravent, folding screens began to materialize in apartments in Paris, gaining favor with the likes of pioneering couturier Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who is said to have accrued more than 30 and used them as a precursor to what we now know as wallpaper.
On 1stDibs, find a wide range of antique and vintage folding screens and room dividers, which, given their history, may do a better job of bringing people and cultures together in your home than sectioning off a space. Search by material to find options in metal, fabric or wood, or browse by style for mid-century modern designs and examples from the Art Deco era.
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