Modern Bookcases
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1950s French Vintage Modern Bookcases
Metal, Brass
1940s American Vintage Modern Bookcases
Wood
Mid-20th Century Modern Bookcases
Metal
Mid-20th Century North American Modern Bookcases
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Modern Bookcases
Pine
Mid-20th Century French Modern Bookcases
Bronze
Mid-20th Century Modern Bookcases
Wood
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Brass
Mid-20th Century Modern Bookcases
Chrome
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Wood, Lacquer
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Bookcases
Glass, Lacquer
1960s Slovak Vintage Modern Bookcases
Wood
Mid-20th Century Unknown Modern Bookcases
Bamboo, Glass, Lucite
Mid-20th Century European Modern Bookcases
Metal
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Brass
1950s European Vintage Modern Bookcases
Ash
1960s American Vintage Modern Bookcases
Stainless Steel
1950s American Vintage Modern Bookcases
1950s French Vintage Modern Bookcases
Oak
1960s French Vintage Modern Bookcases
Brass, Chrome
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Wood
20th Century Italian Modern Bookcases
Iron
Late 19th Century English Antique Modern Bookcases
Brass
1970s American Vintage Modern Bookcases
Chrome
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Brass, Iron
20th Century Modern Bookcases
Brass, Chrome
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Brass
1960s Vintage Modern Bookcases
Glass
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Brass
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Bookcases
Glass, Teak
1950s Swiss Vintage Modern Bookcases
Concrete
1960s American Vintage Modern Bookcases
Brass
1930s French Vintage Modern Bookcases
Goatskin, Wood, Parchment Paper
Mid-20th Century Modern Bookcases
Metal
1940s Belgian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Walnut
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Metal, Brass
Mid-20th Century Modern Bookcases
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Unknown Modern Bookcases
Teak
Mid-20th Century American Modern Bookcases
Burl
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Bookcases
Stainless Steel
Mid-20th Century American Modern Bookcases
Oak
Mid-20th Century French Modern Bookcases
Elm