Modern Pitchers
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Late 20th Century English Modern Pitchers
Ceramic
1990s English Modern Pitchers
Stoneware
20th Century Polish Modern Pitchers
Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Pitchers
Ceramic
1880s Czech Antique Modern Pitchers
Art Glass
20th Century English Modern Pitchers
Majolica, Ceramic
Mid-20th Century French Modern Pitchers
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century French Modern Pitchers
Ceramic
1890s French Antique Modern Pitchers
Pottery
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Pitchers
Ceramic
1930s Vintage Modern Pitchers
Pewter
Early 1900s Czech Antique Modern Pitchers
Crystal
19th Century Antique Modern Pitchers
Ceramic
20th Century American Modern Pitchers
Cut Glass
Early 1900s French Antique Modern Pitchers
Ceramic, Faience
1970s American Vintage Modern Pitchers
Pottery, Stoneware
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Pitchers
Blown Glass
20th Century Modern Pitchers
Silver Plate
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Pitchers
Goatskin
1990s English Modern Pitchers
Pottery
1970s American Vintage Modern Pitchers
Composition
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Pitchers
Pottery