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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete, Steel
1960s French Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
1960s Belgian Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
1960s French Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete, Steel
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s American Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Steel, Stainless Steel, Lead, Aluminum
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s American Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Copper
1960s American Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic
1960s Argentine Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Granite, Bronze
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
Mid-20th Century Swiss Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1940s French Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Steel
2010s American Modern Building and Garden Elements
Steel
Mid-20th Century Modern Building and Garden Elements
Stone
1950s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
18th Century Antique Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1950s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
1960s French Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1950s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Brass, Copper
1960s French Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s French Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete, Steel
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete, Composition
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete, Iron
1960s Unknown Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cast Stone, Bronze
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Cement
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete, Steel
1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Building and Garden Elements
Concrete, Steel