Modern Dry Bars
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Dry Bars
Ash, Olive, Macassar
20th Century American Modern Dry Bars
Metal, Chrome
1950s French Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Dry Bars
Brass
20th Century French Modern Dry Bars
Chrome
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Ceramic, Wood
1990s Italian Modern Dry Bars
Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Stone
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Metal, Steel
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Belgian Black Marble
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Plastic, Wood
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Teak
1970s American Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Chrome
1980s American Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Leather, Wood, Parchment Paper, Goatskin
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Glass, Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Walnut, Maple
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Glass, Lacquer
1970s English Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Leather, Mirror, Walnut
1930s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Glass, Walnut, Mirror, Wood
1990s American Modern Dry Bars
Brass
1980s French Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Plastic, Bentwood
20th Century Modern Dry Bars
Acrylic, Lucite
1930s Hungarian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Rosewood, Walnut
1970s Spanish Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Brass
1990s Italian Modern Dry Bars
Metal
1960s American Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Iron
1960s American Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Iron
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Dry Bars
Brass
1950s French Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Bamboo, Formica, Wood
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Dry Bars
Brass
1920s Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Marble, Bronze
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Brass
20th Century American Modern Dry Bars
Mid-20th Century Spanish Modern Dry Bars
Wood
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Brass
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Chrome
1980s American Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Wood
1970s American Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Bamboo, Rattan
1960s Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Rattan, Wood
1970s American Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Metal
Late 20th Century American Modern Dry Bars
Nickel
Late 20th Century Modern Dry Bars
Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Steel
1980s Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Brass
1980s American Vintage Modern Dry Bars
Glass, Walnut