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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Crystal, Lava, Gold Leaf
15th Century and Earlier Antique Modern Sculptures
Stone
15th Century and Earlier Malagasy Antique Modern Sculptures
Stone
15th Century and Earlier Malagasy Antique Modern Sculptures
Rock Crystal
15th Century and Earlier Antique Modern Sculptures
Rose Quartz
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Wood
1610s Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Bronze, Copper
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Rock Crystal
1670s Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Sculptures
Stainless Steel
15th Century and Earlier Swedish Antique Modern Sculptures
Other
2010s Australian Modern Sculptures
Stone
17th Century Dutch Antique Modern Sculptures
Oak
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Sculptures
Rose Quartz
15th Century and Earlier Antique Modern Sculptures
Crystal, Quartz
15th Century and Earlier European Antique Modern Sculptures
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Sculptures
Rose Quartz
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Wood
17th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Carrara Marble
2010s Modern Sculptures
Crystal
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Rock Crystal, Gold Leaf
15th Century and Earlier Swedish Antique Modern Sculptures
Stone
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Wood
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Wood
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Wood
18th Century Italian Antique Modern Sculptures
Terracotta