Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern American furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.
Postwar American architects and designers were animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist “International Style” architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the ’30s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale, in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.
Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for, respectively, pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair. George Nelson and his design team created Bubble lamp shades using a new translucent polymer skin. Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were re-purposed: the Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs that used surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests. The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influence in the rise of modern design in the United States thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century designers caught the spirit.
Classically-oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb — who designed holistic groups of sleek, blonde-wood furniture — and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Steel, Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Nickel
1960s Swedish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Fabric, Pine
1940s Swedish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary British Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal, Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Nickel, Metal
2010s European Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal, Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Mexican Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Onyx
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1960s Swedish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Steel
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1950s Norwegian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1960s Austrian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal, Steel, Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1950s Swedish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal, Brass
1950s Swedish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Steel
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Metal
Mid-20th Century Czech Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal, Chrome
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal, Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Steel
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Crystal, Nickel
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
2010s Portuguese Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Resin, Fiberglass
1980s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Opaline Glass, Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Chrome
1940s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Murano Glass
1940s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
2010s North American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Bronze, Enamel, Nickel
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
1920s Scandinavian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Chrome
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Aluminum, Brass
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Bronze
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Cane, Rattan
1970s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Bronze, Steel
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Copper
2010s French Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Aluminum, Brass
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Glass
1960s Austrian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Murano Glass
1960s Austrian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Glass
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Enamel, Aluminum
1970s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Aluminum, Brass