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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1990s Modern Candlesticks
Metal, Silver, Silver Plate, Sterling Silver, Sheet Metal, Silver Leaf
1990s Italian Modern Candlesticks
Glass
1990s Swedish Modern Candlesticks
Art Glass
1990s Finnish Modern Candlesticks
Crystal
1990s Italian Modern Candlesticks
Crystal
1990s Italian Modern Candlesticks
Crystal
1990s Italian Modern Candlesticks
Crystal
1990s Italian Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
1990s Finnish Modern Candlesticks
Crystal
1990s Italian Modern Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
20th Century North American Modern Candlesticks
Metal
1970s Finnish Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Blown Glass
1980s Swedish Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Blown Glass
1970s Finnish Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Israeli Modern Candlesticks
Iron
1960s Finnish Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Glass
1970s European Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Glass
1970s Swedish Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Glass
Late 20th Century American Modern Candlesticks
Metal, Silver
20th Century American Modern Candlesticks
Tin
1980s Swedish Vintage Modern Candlesticks
Art Glass
Late 20th Century Finnish Modern Candlesticks
Art Glass
1990s Italian Modern Candlesticks
Art Glass
1990s Swedish Modern Candlesticks
Aluminum
1990s French Modern Candlesticks
Crystal, Bronze
1990s French Modern Candlesticks
Silver Plate
1990s Modern Candlesticks
Blown Glass
1990s Modern Candlesticks
Rock Crystal
1990s American Modern Candlesticks
Brass
1990s Irish Modern Candlesticks
Crystal
1990s French Modern Candlesticks
Pewter
1990s American Modern Candlesticks
Bronze
1990s Danish Modern Candlesticks
Brass, Stainless Steel
1990s French Modern Candlesticks
Bronze