Modern Vases
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Vases
Murano Glass
1940s French Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Vases
Blown Glass
1940s French Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Vases
Bronze
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Vases
Stoneware
1940s French Vintage Modern Vases
Stoneware
1940s American Vintage Modern Vases
Porcelain
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Vases
Murano Glass, Art Glass
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Vases
Art Glass, Murano Glass, Blown Glass
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
Stoneware
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
Pottery, Ceramic
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
Pottery
1940s French Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
1940s French Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
Pottery
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Vases
Murano Glass
1930s Danish Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1930s Danish Vintage Modern Vases
Bronze
1950s French Vintage Modern Vases
Earthenware
1930s Danish Vintage Modern Vases
Pewter
1930s Vintage Modern Vases
Stoneware
Mid-20th Century French Modern Vases
Earthenware
1940s Vintage Modern Vases
Murano Glass
1930s Danish Vintage Modern Vases
Bronze
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Vases
Metal
1940s Swedish Vintage Modern Vases
Metal
1930s Danish Vintage Modern Vases
Pewter
Mid-19th Century European Antique Modern Vases
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Modern Vases
Pottery
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Vases
Silver
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Vases
Glass, Fabric
1940s French Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s German Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s Swedish Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic, Earthenware
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Vases
Ceramic
1940s French Vintage Modern Vases
Wood
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Vases
Porcelain