Modern Statues
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Italian Modern Statues
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Statues
Iron
2010s Argentine Modern Statues
Marble
1970s French Vintage Modern Statues
Ceramic
Late 20th Century English Modern Statues
Iron
20th Century French Modern Statues
Cast Stone, Stone
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Modern Statues
Marble
Early 1900s French Antique Modern Statues
Metal, Lead
2010s Italian Modern Statues
Limestone
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Statues
Marble, Bronze
Early 20th Century European Modern Statues
Cast Stone
1920s Vintage Modern Statues
Cast Stone
Early 20th Century Modern Statues
Plaster, Resin
20th Century Modern Statues
Stone
1920s Italian Vintage Modern Statues
Stone, Cement
20th Century American Modern Statues
Iron
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Statues
Steel
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Statues
Brass
1970s American Vintage Modern Statues
Marble
Mid-20th Century Modern Statues
Concrete
1960s Spanish Vintage Modern Statues
Cast Stone
1960s Spanish Vintage Modern Statues
Cast Stone
1960s Spanish Vintage Modern Statues
Cast Stone
1960s Spanish Vintage Modern Statues
Cast Stone
2010s Sicilian Modern Statues
Clay
20th Century Modern Statues
Copper
Mid-20th Century North American Modern Statues
Stone, Granite
20th Century Balinese Modern Statues
Lava