Modern Animal Sculptures
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Mid-20th Century American Modern Animal Sculptures
Bronze
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Bronze
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century American Modern Animal Sculptures
Brass
1960s American Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Aluminum
1960s English Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Leather
Mid-20th Century American Modern Animal Sculptures
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Metal, Gold
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Animal Sculptures
Silver
Mid-20th Century French Modern Animal Sculptures
Wood
1950s Austrian Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Bronze
1950s Austrian Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Bronze
1950s Austrian Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Mid-20th Century American Modern Animal Sculptures
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Ceramic
1930s Czech Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Ceramic
1930s French Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Bronze
1950s Indian Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Lapis Lazuli
Mid-20th Century Modern Animal Sculptures
Wood
1960s American Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Stone, Marble
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Animal Sculptures
Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century French Modern Animal Sculptures
Bronze
1960s French Vintage Modern Animal Sculptures
Iron