Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Italian Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Metal
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass
1950s Swedish Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Birch
1950s American Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Unknown Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Birch
2010s American Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Mahogany
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Chrome
1940s American Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass
Early 19th Century German Antique Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Walnut
19th Century Antique Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass
1920s American Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Burl, Paint
Mid-20th Century Czech Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Wood, Beech, Plywood
20th Century Swedish Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Birch
Early 19th Century Antique Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Wood, Burl
Mid-20th Century American Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Walnut
1950s American Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Wood
1950s English Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Ash, Burl
1950s French Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass
1950s American Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Walnut
1950s French Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass, Bronze
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Rosewood
1950s American Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Walnut
1950s Swedish Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Wood
1950s American Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Wood
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
1950s American Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Walnut
1950s Argentine Vintage Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass