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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Marble
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Glass
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Wood
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Porcelain
1940s French Vintage Modern Sculptures
Terracotta, Wood
1940s French Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Wood
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Sculptures
Porcelain
1940s French Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Ceramic
1940s French Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Wood
1870s American Antique Modern Sculptures
Bronze, Copper
Early 20th Century Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century Unknown Modern Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century American Modern Sculptures
Granite
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Sculptures
Glass
20th Century Japanese Modern Sculptures
Bronze
19th Century Japanese Antique Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s Vintage Modern Sculptures
Composition
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
2010s Thai Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s Austrian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Brass
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze
1940s English Vintage Modern Sculptures
1940s French Vintage Modern Sculptures
Ceramic
1940s European Vintage Modern Sculptures
Earthenware
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Brass, Iron
1940s French Vintage Modern Sculptures
Wood
1940s French Vintage Modern Sculptures
Wrought Iron, Bronze, Steel
1940s American Vintage Modern Sculptures
Serpentine
1940s English Vintage Modern Sculptures
1940s Austrian Vintage Modern Sculptures
Leather, Oak
1940s French Vintage Modern Sculptures
Bronze