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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1980s American Vintage Modern Bookends
Brass
Late 20th Century Modern Bookends
Brass, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Bookends
Brass
Late 20th Century American Modern Bookends
Glass
Late 20th Century Modern Bookends
Brass, Chrome
1970s Vintage Modern Bookends
Silver Plate, Brass
1970s French Vintage Modern Bookends
Onyx
1980s French Vintage Modern Bookends
Granite, Metal, Chrome
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Bookends
Brass
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Bookends
Steel
1980s Unknown Vintage Modern Bookends
Stone
Late 20th Century British Modern Bookends
Brass
Late 20th Century Modern Bookends
Brass, Chrome
1980s American Vintage Modern Bookends
Bronze
1970s American Vintage Modern Bookends
Brass
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Bookends
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Late 20th Century American Modern Bookends
Nickel
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Bookends
Slate
1980s American Vintage Modern Bookends
Brass
1970s American Vintage Modern Bookends
Glass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Bookends
Brass
20th Century Modern Bookends
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Bookends
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Bookends
Brass
20th Century Korean Modern Bookends
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Bookends
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Bookends
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Bookends
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Bookends
Brass
1970s Korean Vintage Modern Bookends
Brass
1970s American Vintage Modern Bookends
Iron
1980s Unknown Vintage Modern Bookends
Steel
Late 20th Century Modern Bookends
Brass, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Bookends
Metal
1970s French Vintage Modern Bookends
Onyx
1970s Vintage Modern Bookends
Steel
1980s Vintage Modern Bookends
Brass
1970s Vintage Modern Bookends
Marble
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Bookends
Marble
Late 20th Century Modern Bookends
Brass, Chrome
1990s American Modern Bookends
Wood
Late 20th Century Modern Bookends
Brass, Chrome