Modern Shelves
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Brass
1940s Finnish Vintage Modern Shelves
Birch
Mid-20th Century American Modern Shelves
Mahogany
Mid-20th Century American Modern Shelves
Mahogany
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Brass
Mid-20th Century Modern Shelves
Chrome
1950s American Vintage Modern Shelves
Walnut
1950s American Vintage Modern Shelves
Walnut
Mid-20th Century European Modern Shelves
Birch
1950s French Vintage Modern Shelves
Iron
Mid-20th Century European Modern Shelves
Metal
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Brass
1960s European Vintage Modern Shelves
Birch
1960s European Vintage Modern Shelves
Teak
Mid-20th Century Unknown Modern Shelves
Bamboo, Glass, Lucite
Mid-20th Century Unknown Modern Shelves
Chrome
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Wood
20th Century French Modern Shelves
Brass
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Shelves
Bouclé
1940s Dutch Vintage Modern Shelves
Plywood
1940s Swedish Vintage Modern Shelves
Sheepskin, Elm
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Brass
Early 20th Century Spanish Modern Shelves
Wood
1940s Swedish Vintage Modern Shelves
Bouclé, Wood
1970s American Vintage Modern Shelves
Chrome
1940s Danish Vintage Modern Shelves
Wool
1950s Finnish Vintage Modern Shelves
Birch
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Aluminum
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Fabric, Walnut
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Wood
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Shelves
Metal
1930s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Brass
Mid-20th Century Scandinavian Modern Shelves
Wood, Oak
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Shelves
Wood
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Metal, Brass
Mid-20th Century American Modern Shelves
Iron, Wrought Iron
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Brass
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Brass
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Brass
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Shelves
Stainless Steel
1960s American Vintage Modern Shelves
Chrome