Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern American furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.
Postwar American architects and designers were animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist “International Style” architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the ’30s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale, in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.
Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for, respectively, pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair. George Nelson and his design team created Bubble lamp shades using a new translucent polymer skin. Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were re-purposed: the Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs that used surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests. The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influence in the rise of modern design in the United States thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century designers caught the spirit.
Classically-oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb — who designed holistic groups of sleek, blonde-wood furniture — and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Pine
1990s North American Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Ash, Plywood
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal, Brass
2010s Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Parchment Paper
1960s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
1960s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Oak
1970s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
1970s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Mirror
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Mirror, Walnut
1970s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Tapestry, Plastic
1960s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal, Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Marble, Carrara Marble
1940s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Smoked Glass, Walnut
1970s European Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Bamboo, Cane
1960s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal, Brass
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Laminate, Plywood
20th Century Spanish Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Canvas, Wood, Paint
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood, Paint
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Bamboo, Rattan
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Textile, Beech
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1950s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Ash
1950s Mexican Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Romanian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Steel
Mid-20th Century Czech Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Bentwood, Plywood
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
Early 20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Pine
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Bamboo
Mid-20th Century Japanese Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Paper
20th Century Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Bamboo
1960s Czech Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal, Copper
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Rubber, Rosewood
1950s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
Mid-20th Century Czech Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Bentwood, Plywood
Late 20th Century Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Bamboo, Rattan
1970s Czech Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Walnut
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Walnut
Mid-20th Century Czech Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Bentwood, Plywood
21st Century and Contemporary Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
Mid-20th Century Czech Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Bentwood, Plywood
21st Century and Contemporary Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Cane, Wood
1950s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Walnut
1960s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Mahogany
Mid-20th Century Swiss Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal, Brass
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
1980s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wicker, Rattan
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Teak
1950s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Oak