Rona Koblenz

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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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

Antique and vintage gueridons add beautiful form as well as function to any room. A small table originally designed in 17th-century France to hold candlesticks and other decorative objects, gueridons are usually round and supported by ornate legs, columns or carved figures.  

French Empire-style gueridons or Greco-Roman-inspired tables can be used as end tables for holding beverages in a living room or boudoir tables to place favorite books or a table lamp. Alternatively, a mid-century modern gueridon could find a home as a console table in a foyer as a receptacle for house keys and personal items when you come home, while an Art Deco gueridon could be the center of attention in a study. The possibilities of these versatile pieces are endless.  

Browse 1stDibs for Italian modernist gueridons and older antique gueridons that would fit well in a contemporary Manhattan apartment. Whether antique, vintage or modern, gueridons and other kinds of accent tables make a statement.