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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Furniture
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Furniture
Ceramic, Leather, Foam
2010s Modern Furniture
Brass
2010s Korean Modern Furniture
Polystyrene
2010s American Modern Furniture
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Furniture
Lucite
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Furniture
Wood
Early 1800s Chinese Antique Modern Furniture
Elm
19th Century Chinese Antique Modern Furniture
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Wood
1960s American Vintage Modern Furniture
Metal, Brass
1960s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Metal
Late 19th Century Asian Antique Modern Furniture
Elm
21st Century and Contemporary Indonesian Modern Furniture
Wood, Teak
Late 20th Century Chinese Modern Furniture
Brass
2010s Ukrainian Modern Furniture
Steel
Mid-20th Century Chinese Modern Furniture
Wood
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Glass
1970s Swiss Vintage Modern Furniture
Leather
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Furniture
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Furniture
Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Furniture
Lucite, Porcelain
2010s German Modern Furniture
Beech
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Furniture
Elm, Rattan
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Furniture
Chrome