Modern Books
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 American Modern Books
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Books
Paper
2010s Italian Modern Books
Oak, Walnut
2010s Modern Books
Paper
2010s English Modern Books
Granite, Marble
2010s American Modern Books
Paper
1920s English Vintage Modern Books
Leather, Paper
Because of heliocentric system theorized by Copernicus, it was possible to create mechanical antique orreries...
1860s Czech Antique Modern Books
Iron
1880s English Antique Modern Books
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Books
Marble, Carrara Marble
Mid-19th Century English Antique Modern Books
Mahogany
17th Century Italian Antique Modern Books
Spruce
Early 19th Century English Antique Modern Books
Mahogany
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Books
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Books
Oak
1950s American Vintage Modern Books
Bronze, Aluminum
Late 19th Century North American Antique Modern Books
Leather, Paper
2010s American Modern Books
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Books
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Books
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Books
Paper
2010s American Modern Books
Paper
2010s American Modern Books
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Books
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Books
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Books
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Books
Paper
2010s American Modern Books
Paper
2010s American Modern Books
Paper