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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s American Modern Furniture
Fur, Alpaca, Wood
2010s American Modern Furniture
Hardwood
2010s American Modern Furniture
Oak
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Furniture
Wood
20th Century Modern Furniture
Marble
2010s Modern Furniture
Brass
2010s American Modern Furniture
Steel
2010s American Modern Furniture
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Furniture
Lucite
20th Century Unknown Modern Furniture
Wood
Late 20th Century American Modern Furniture
Metal
2010s American Modern Furniture
Brass
1960s Vintage Modern Furniture
Rosewood
20th Century Chinese Modern Furniture
Wood
Early 20th Century Chinese Modern Furniture
Wood
1970s American Vintage Modern Furniture
Oak
Mid-19th Century Chinese Antique Modern Furniture
Elm
Early 1900s Chinese Antique Modern Furniture
Wood, Elm, Lacquer
20th Century Chinese Modern Furniture
Wood
Late 20th Century Japanese Modern Furniture
Paper
Early 20th Century Chinese Modern Furniture
Rosewood
19th Century European Antique Modern Furniture
Other
Late 19th Century Chinese Antique Modern Furniture
Elm
21st Century and Contemporary Turkish Modern Furniture
Wood
20th Century Unknown Modern Furniture
Wood
2010s American Modern Furniture
Brass
Early 2000s Modern Furniture
Fabric
1990s Italian Modern Furniture
Murano Glass
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Glass
20th Century Asian Modern Furniture
Bronze
2010s American Modern Furniture
Teak
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Furniture
Stainless Steel
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Furniture
Lucite, Porcelain
Early 2000s Swiss Modern Furniture
Leather
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Glass