Modern 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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Mexican Modern Sculptures
Resin
2010s Polish Modern Sculptures
Glass
Early 2000s Italian Modern Sculptures
Murano Glass
20th Century Italian Modern Sculptures
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Sculptures
Blown Glass
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Sculptures
Marble
2010s Swedish Modern Sculptures
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Sculptures
Plastic
2010s Italian Modern Sculptures
Glass, Cut Glass, Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Sculptures
Glass
2010s Italian Modern Sculptures
Ceramic, Paint
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Sculptures
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Sculptures
Acrylic
2010s Italian Modern Sculptures
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary European Modern Sculptures
Plywood
2010s Italian Modern Sculptures
Plastic
2010s Italian Modern Sculptures
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Sculptures
Brass
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Sculptures
Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Sculptures
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Sculptures
Murano Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Sculptures
Brass
1970s Vintage Modern Sculptures
2010s Modern Sculptures
Murano Glass
Late 20th Century Modern Sculptures
Resin
Mid-20th Century American Modern Sculptures
Brass
20th Century Italian Modern Sculptures
Brass
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Resin
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Murano Glass
2010s Czech Modern Sculptures
Glass
2010s Dutch Modern Sculptures
Wood, Paint
1990s American Modern Sculptures
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Sculptures
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Sculptures
Plastic
Early 2000s Unknown Modern Sculptures
Nylon
1990s American Modern Sculptures
Lucite
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Sculptures
Brass