Modern Building and Garden 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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
20th Century Modern Building and Garden Elements
Metal
2010s Chinese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Porcelain
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Building and Garden Elements
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
2010s Vietnamese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Stone, Cement
2010s Vietnamese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic
Late 20th Century American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Iron, Wrought Iron
Late 18th Century Spanish Antique Modern Building and Garden Elements
Terracotta
20th Century Hong Kong Modern Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic, Paint
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Steel
2010s Vietnamese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Fiberglass
2010s Vietnamese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Fiberglass
2010s Vietnamese Modern Building and Garden Elements
Fiberglass
Mid-20th Century Spanish Modern Building and Garden Elements
Terracotta
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic
15th Century and Earlier Italian Antique Modern Building and Garden Elements
Brass
19th Century French Antique Modern Building and Garden Elements
Earthenware
20th Century American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Metal
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cut Steel, Sheet Metal, Steel, Brass
1970s Dutch Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Fiberglass, Paint
1970s Dutch Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Fiberglass, Paint
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Building and Garden Elements
Plastic
2010s Indian Modern Building and Garden Elements
Other
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Building and Garden Elements
Plastic
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Steel
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Steel
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Steel
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Steel