Modern Furniture
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Furniture
Oak
1920s Italian Vintage Modern Furniture
Wood
1920s Austrian Vintage Modern Furniture
Beech, Bentwood
1920s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Metal
1920s British Vintage Modern Furniture
Sterling Silver
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Furniture
Ceramic
1920s American Vintage Modern Furniture
Bronze
1920s German Vintage Modern Furniture
Metal
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Furniture
Oak
1920s Russian Vintage Modern Furniture
Paper
1920s Swedish Vintage Modern Furniture
Plaster, Wood
1920s Japanese Vintage Modern Furniture
Paper
1920s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Pewter
1920s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Walnut
1920s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Walnut
1920s Moroccan Vintage Modern Furniture
Brass
1920s Austrian Vintage Modern Furniture
Wood
1920s Czech Vintage Modern Furniture
Porcelain
1920s American Vintage Modern Furniture
Pewter
1920s Persian Vintage Modern Furniture
Wool
1920s Czech Vintage Modern Furniture
Metal
1920s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Bronze
1920s American Vintage Modern Furniture
1920s Austrian Vintage Modern Furniture
Beech
1920s English Vintage Modern Furniture
Pewter
1920s American Vintage Modern Furniture
Stoneware
1920s Italian Vintage Modern Furniture
Leather
1920s Austrian Vintage Modern Furniture
Steel
1920s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Goatskin, Wood
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Furniture
Glass, Oak