Modern Picture Frames
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1970s American Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Paper, Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Acrylic, Plexiglass, Lucite
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Acrylic, Plexiglass, Lucite
1970s French Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Animal Skin
1970s French Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Brass, Metal, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Gold Plate, Sterling Silver, Enamel
1970s French Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Silver Plate
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Plexiglass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Bronze
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Animal Skin, Suede
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Cane, Rattan, Lucite, Plexiglass
2010s American Modern Picture Frames
Sterling Silver
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Brass
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Picture Frames
Metal
1950s American Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Glass, Giltwood, Paint, Paper
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Brass, Chrome
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Picture Frames
Brass
Mid-20th Century German Modern Picture Frames
Chrome
1990s American Modern Picture Frames
Canvas
Mid-20th Century European Modern Picture Frames
Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Brass
1990s French Modern Picture Frames
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Silver Plate
1970s French Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Silver Plate
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Silver Plate
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal
1970s French Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Picture Frames
Brass, Chrome