Tom Corbin Sculpture
Early 2000s American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
Early 2000s American End Tables
Limestone, Bronze
People Also Browsed
1990s American Expressionist Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Books
Paper
1970s Folk Art Figurative Paintings
Oil, Board
Vintage 1940s Italian Classical Roman Busts
Ceramic
Vintage 1950s Italian Classical Roman Busts
Stucco
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Wood, Paint
2010s Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
Antique 15th Century and Earlier Italian Gothic Animal Sculptures
Stone
Antique Late 19th Century Italian Neoclassical Busts
Antique 15th Century and Earlier Italian Classical Roman Figurative Scul...
Marble
Vintage 1960s Italian Classical Roman Figurative Sculptures
Plaster
Vintage 1970s Italian Art Deco Sculptures
Ceramic, Pottery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Busts
Marble
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Busts
Marble
1990s North American Paintings
Acrylic
20th Century Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Canvas, Hardwood
Recent Sales
2010s American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Marble, Bronze
20th Century American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Marble, Bronze
20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Marble, Bronze
20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures
Bronze
1990s American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Side Tables
Bronze
Late 20th Century American Modern Table Lamps
Bronze
Late 20th Century American Modern End Tables
Bronze
20th Century Modern Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century Modern Nude Sculptures
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Animal Sculptures
Bronze
1990s American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century American Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Bronze
A Close Look at modern Furniture
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.