Modern Candlesticks
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Israeli Modern Candlesticks
Aluminum, Sterling Silver
1960s Unknown Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
1980s American Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
Early 2000s European Modern Candlesticks
Silver
1970s American Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
1990s Italian Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
Early 20th Century English Modern Candlesticks
Metal
Mid-20th Century North American Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Candlesticks
Silver, Sterling Silver
Early 1900s American Antique Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
1930s American Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
1910s American Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
Early 1900s American Antique Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
Early 20th Century American Modern Candlesticks
1940s American Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
Mid-20th Century English Modern Candlesticks
Cement, Sterling Silver
19th Century English Antique Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
Early 1900s English Antique Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
20th Century Italian Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
1960s German Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Candlesticks
Silver
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
2010s British Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary English Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Candlesticks
Silver
21st Century and Contemporary English Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate