Modern Ceramics
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 French Modern Ceramics
Stoneware
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Ceramics
Porcelain
2010s Italian Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
2010s Argentine Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Pottery, Clay
2010s Argentine Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Pottery, Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Ceramics
Stoneware
2010s Argentine Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Pottery, Clay
2010s Argentine Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Pottery, Clay
20th Century French Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
2010s Italian Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
2010s Finnish Modern Ceramics
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Ceramics
Gold
1960s Vintage Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Stoneware
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Earthenware
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Earthenware
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Earthenware
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Stoneware
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Earthenware
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Earthenware
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Earthenware
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Earthenware
2010s Polish Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
1960s French Vintage Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Ceramics
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
1990s American Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
2010s American Modern Ceramics
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
20th Century Chinese Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Ceramics
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Ceramics
Ceramic