Modern Folk Art
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Israeli Modern Folk Art
PVC
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
2010s English Modern Folk Art
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
20th Century French Modern Folk Art
Cotton
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
1990s British Modern Folk Art
Canvas
2010s Spanish Modern Folk Art
Steel, Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Silk
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Silk
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Silk
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Folk Art
Wool
2010s Swedish Modern Folk Art
Plastic
2010s Canadian Modern Folk Art
Acrylic, Cedar, Fir
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Folk Art
Crystal
2010s English Modern Folk Art
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Folk Art
Epoxy Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Folk Art
Textile, Acrylic, Paper
20th Century Modern Folk Art
2010s English Modern Folk Art
Paper
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Mid-20th Century Modern Folk Art
Other
Early 2000s Italian Modern Folk Art
Yarn
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Folk Art
Canvas, Wood
2010s English Modern Folk Art
Paper
Early 2000s Italian Modern Folk Art
Yarn
2010s English Modern Folk Art
Cotton
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Folk Art
Wool
Mid-20th Century Austrian Modern Folk Art
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Folk Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Folk Art
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Folk Art
Metal
2010s Portuguese Modern Folk Art
Brass
2010s Portuguese Modern Folk Art
Brass