Modern Table 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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s French Modern Table Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Table Lamps
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Table Lamps
Silk, Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Table Lamps
Aluminum
2010s Polish Modern Table Lamps
Glass
2010s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Wood
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s British Modern Table Lamps
Marble, Metal, Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Table Lamps
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Marble, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Table Lamps
Nickel
2010s Spanish Modern Table Lamps
Linen, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Table Lamps
Glass
2010s French Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Glass
1980s American Vintage Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Table Lamps
Metal
2010s European Modern Table Lamps
Brass
1980s German Vintage Modern Table Lamps
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Walnut
2010s South African Modern Table Lamps
Steel
2010s French Modern Table Lamps
Carrara Marble, Brass
2010s Ukrainian Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Australian Modern Table Lamps
Marble
2010s French Modern Table Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Table Lamps
Bamboo
Early 2000s French Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Glass
2010s Polish Modern Table Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
2010s Polish Modern Table Lamps
Glass
2010s British Modern Table Lamps
Marble, Brass
Late 20th Century Modern Table Lamps
Art Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Table Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Table Lamps
Plastic
2010s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s French Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s French Modern Table Lamps
Carrara Marble, Brass, Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
1980s American Vintage Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic
2010s Polish Modern Table Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Crystal, Iron
2010s Czech Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic
1990s American Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Canadian Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Aluminum
2010s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Alabaster, Brass
2010s French Modern Table Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Table Lamps
Plastic