Modern Pottery
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 English Modern Pottery
Pottery
21st Century and Contemporary English Modern Pottery
Pottery
Early 20th Century American Modern Pottery
Clay
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Pottery
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Pottery
Gold Leaf
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Pottery
Ceramic
1990s American Modern Pottery
Ceramic, Pottery
1990s English Modern Pottery
Porcelain, Pottery
Mid-20th Century American Modern Pottery
Terracotta
1970s Swedish Vintage Modern Pottery
Stoneware
1970s English Vintage Modern Pottery
Stoneware
20th Century British Modern Pottery
Pottery, Stoneware
20th Century Modern Pottery
Pottery, Stoneware
20th Century English Modern Pottery
Pottery
2010s English Modern Pottery
Cast Stone
1990s English Modern Pottery
Pottery, Stoneware
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Pottery
Ceramic
1990s English Modern Pottery
Pottery
Late 20th Century British Modern Pottery
Pottery
Late 20th Century Ecuadorean Modern Pottery
Pottery
20th Century Japanese Modern Pottery
Pottery
1980s English Vintage Modern Pottery
Ceramic
1980s American Vintage Modern Pottery
Stoneware
Early 2000s British Modern Pottery
Pottery
20th Century English Modern Pottery
Pottery
20th Century English Modern Pottery
Clay
1970s English Vintage Modern Pottery
Stoneware
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Pottery
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Pottery
Ceramic
Early 2000s Modern Pottery
Pottery
1970s German Vintage Modern Pottery
1960s French Vintage Modern Pottery
Ceramic
Early 2000s South African Modern Pottery
Clay
1960s French Vintage Modern Pottery
Ceramic
1950s American Vintage Modern Pottery
21st Century and Contemporary South African Modern Pottery
Ceramic
1990s Unknown Modern Pottery
Pottery
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Pottery
1980s Vintage Modern Pottery
Pottery
1980s Vintage Modern Pottery
Pottery
Mid-20th Century American Modern Pottery
Terracotta
1970s American Vintage Modern Pottery
Pottery
20th Century Modern Pottery
Pottery
Late 19th Century Swedish Antique Modern Pottery
Stoneware
Late 20th Century American Modern Pottery
Ceramic, Pottery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Pottery
Terracotta
21st Century and Contemporary South African Modern Pottery
Ceramic
Late 20th Century Modern Pottery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Pottery
Gold Leaf
1980s British Vintage Modern Pottery
Pottery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Pottery
Terracotta
Mid-20th Century American Modern Pottery
Stoneware
20th Century British Modern Pottery
Pottery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Pottery
Terracotta
Early 2000s Italian Modern Pottery
Ceramic
2010s Peruvian Modern Pottery
Granite
Late 20th Century American Modern Pottery
Ceramic, Pottery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Pottery
Gold Leaf