Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Terracotta
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Terracotta
19th Century Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Brass
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Terracotta
Mid-19th Century Danish Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Hardwood
Late 19th Century French Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Wood
1930s Italian Vintage Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Paper
1960s American Vintage Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Steel
1930s British Vintage Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Wood
1890s Great Britain (UK) Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Brass
1880s Scottish Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Multi-gemstone, Silver
19th Century Italian Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Wood, Paint
Mid-20th Century American Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Bronze
Early 1900s French Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Brass, Copper, Spelter
Early 19th Century German Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Mercury Glass
1920s English Vintage Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Wood
1880s Swiss Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Other
Late 19th Century European Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Metal
1860s Spanish Antique Modern Collectibles and Curiosities
Metal