Modern Figurative 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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Brass
1990s American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Acrylic, Lucite
2010s Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Aluminum
Early 2000s Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Art Glass
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Onyx, Marble
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Murano Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass
Late 19th Century French Antique Modern Figurative Sculptures
Spelter
1980s Vintage Modern Figurative Sculptures
Lucite
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Figurative Sculptures
Lucite
2010s Swedish Modern Figurative Sculptures
Ceramic, Stoneware
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Murano Glass
20th Century Modern Figurative Sculptures
Lucite
2010s Brazilian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Aluminum
1980s American Vintage Modern Figurative Sculptures
Lucite
1950s Vintage Modern Figurative Sculptures
Art Glass
2010s American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Figurative Sculptures
Crystal
21st Century and Contemporary Greek Modern Figurative Sculptures
Composition
Late 20th Century Macedonian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Acrylic