Modern Architectural Elements
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Architectural Elements
Carrara Marble
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Architectural Elements
Carrara Marble
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Architectural Elements
Carrara Marble
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Architectural Elements
Carrara Marble
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Architectural Elements
Marble
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Architectural Elements
Marble
Early 20th Century American Modern Architectural Elements
Metal
Early 20th Century English Modern Architectural Elements
Brass
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Architectural Elements
Terracotta
Early 1900s American Antique Modern Architectural Elements
Leather, Maple
Early 20th Century Indian Modern Architectural Elements
Stone
Early 20th Century Spanish Modern Architectural Elements
Wood
20th Century French Modern Architectural Elements
Concrete
20th Century French Modern Architectural Elements
Plaster
20th Century Spanish Modern Architectural Elements
Copper, Iron
19th Century Turkish Antique Modern Architectural Elements
Carrara Marble
1880s Italian Antique Modern Architectural Elements
Marble
Early 20th Century French Modern Architectural Elements
Wood
Late 19th Century English Antique Modern Architectural Elements
Marble
Early 20th Century European Modern Architectural Elements
Iron
Early 20th Century American Modern Architectural Elements
Wrought Iron