Modern Bookends
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Bookends
Steel
20th Century Italian Modern Bookends
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Bookends
Steel
Mid-20th Century American Modern Bookends
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Bookends
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Bookends
Concrete
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Bookends
Steel
Early 20th Century American Modern Bookends
Onyx, Brass
2010s Argentine Modern Bookends
Onyx, Stone, Metal
20th Century Modern Bookends
Concrete
2010s American Modern Bookends
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Bookends
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Bookends
Marble
2010s Italian Modern Bookends
Marble
20th Century European Modern Bookends
Wrought Iron
1930s Unknown Vintage Modern Bookends
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Bookends
Brass
2010s Guatemalan Modern Bookends
Wood, Mahogany
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Bookends
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Greek Modern Bookends
Brass
1960s American Vintage Modern Bookends
Brass
Mid-20th Century American Modern Bookends
Brass
2010s American Modern Bookends
Blown Glass
20th Century Modern Bookends
Composition
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Bookends
Brass
1950s American Vintage Modern Bookends
Metal
2010s Central American Modern Bookends
Wood, Cypress
2010s Modern Bookends
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Bookends
Marble
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Bookends
Alabaster, Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Peruvian Modern Bookends
Onyx
21st Century and Contemporary Peruvian Modern Bookends
Onyx
21st Century and Contemporary Peruvian Modern Bookends
Onyx
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Bookends
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Bookends
Marble
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Bookends
Marble
2010s Italian Modern Bookends
Concrete
Late 20th Century Modern Bookends
Brass, Chrome
Late 20th Century Modern Bookends
Brass, Chrome