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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s Polish Modern Figurative Sculptures
Glass
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Marble
2010s Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Ceramic, Paint
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Figurative Sculptures
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary European Modern Figurative Sculptures
Plywood
1960s American Vintage Modern Figurative Sculptures
Lucite
2010s Modern Figurative Sculptures
Murano Glass
15th Century and Earlier Egyptian Antique Modern Figurative Sculptures
Granite
1970s American Vintage Modern Figurative Sculptures
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Figurative Sculptures
Plaster
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Ceramic, Majolica
20th Century Unknown Modern Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
1690s European Antique Modern Figurative Sculptures
Wood
20th Century Italian Modern Figurative Sculptures
Brass
20th Century Modern Figurative Sculptures
Lucite
2010s Modern Figurative Sculptures
Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century French Modern Figurative Sculptures
Porcelain