Modern Floor Lamps
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Floor Lamps
Brass
2010s Slovenian Modern Floor Lamps
Wood
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
2010s Spanish Modern Floor Lamps
Carrara Marble
2010s French Modern Floor Lamps
Foam
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Travertine, Brass, Copper
1970s American Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Steel
20th Century French Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
1930s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
1930s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
1980s American Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Steel
20th Century French Modern Floor Lamps
Wrought Iron
2010s Ukrainian Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
2010s Spanish Modern Floor Lamps
Carrara Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Glass
2010s Austrian Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Aluminum, Brass
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Steel, Wire
2010s Belgian Modern Floor Lamps
Polystyrene, Wood
2010s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Marble, Crystal, Brass
2010s British Modern Floor Lamps
Marble, Bronze
2010s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Alabaster, Brass
2010s Spanish Modern Floor Lamps
Carrara Marble
Early 2000s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Aluminum
2010s Belgian Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
2010s Ukrainian Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
2010s British Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Mexican Modern Floor Lamps
Linen, Hardwood
2010s British Modern Floor Lamps
Bronze
2010s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
2010s Spanish Modern Floor Lamps
Carrara Marble
20th Century French Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
2010s British Modern Floor Lamps
Alabaster, Brass, Bronze
2010s German Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Cut Steel
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Brass, Aluminum
2010s French Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Copper, Steel
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Marble, Metal, Aluminum
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Crystal, Bronze
2010s Spanish Modern Floor Lamps
Carrara Marble
2010s British Modern Floor Lamps
Nylon
2010s British Modern Floor Lamps
Opal, Bronze
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Chrome
2010s French Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Enamel, Steel, Chrome
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
2010s Spanish Modern Floor Lamps
Carrara Marble
2010s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Marble, Crystal, Brass
2010s British Modern Floor Lamps
Nylon
2010s Canadian Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
2010s British Modern Floor Lamps
Nylon
2010s American Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
2010s Spanish Modern Floor Lamps
Ceramic, Cotton