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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1990s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Aluminum
1980s American Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Stainless Steel
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Aluminum
20th Century Modern Floor Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1990s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Aluminum
1990s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Aluminum
1980s Swedish Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
20th Century American Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
20th Century Modern Floor Lamps
Rosewood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Teak
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1950s French Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1980s German Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Steel
Late 20th Century American Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
1990s American Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Chrome
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1980s American Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
1970s American Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Bronze
20th Century American Modern Floor Lamps
Bronze
20th Century Philippine Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1970s Dutch Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Sheet Metal
1960s American Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Aluminum, Gold
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Iron
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Plastic, Oak
1980s American Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Chrome
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
Late 20th Century French Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Pewter
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1960s American Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
1970s German Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Plastic, Oak
Mid-20th Century American Modern Floor Lamps
Chrome, Metal
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Aluminum
1960s Austrian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Iron
1990s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Marble, Metal, Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Marble, Steel
Late 20th Century American Modern Floor Lamps
Composition, Metal
Early 20th Century English Modern Floor Lamps
Aluminum, Steel
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Floor Lamps
Glass, Murano Glass
Late 20th Century American Modern Floor Lamps
Plaster