Modern End Tables
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1990s American Modern End Tables
Lucite, Walnut
1950s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Laminate, Birch
1980s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Animal Skin
2010s American Modern End Tables
Marble, Carrara Marble
2010s American Modern End Tables
Smoked Glass, Wood, Lacquer
1970s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern End Tables
Brass
1990s French Modern End Tables
Leather, Oak
Late 20th Century American Modern End Tables
Satinwood
2010s Canadian Modern End Tables
Macassar
1990s American Modern End Tables
Mahogany
Early 20th Century European Modern End Tables
Wood
1940s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Wood
Late 20th Century American Modern End Tables
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Guatemalan Modern End Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern End Tables
Wrought Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern End Tables
Glass, Lucite, Wood
20th Century American Modern End Tables
Late 20th Century Italian Modern End Tables
Marble, Brass
20th Century American Modern End Tables
Brass
1960s Danish Vintage Modern End Tables
Ceramic, Rosewood
2010s American Modern End Tables
Brass
Late 20th Century American Modern End Tables
Plaster
Mid-20th Century American Modern End Tables
Wood
Late 20th Century American Modern End Tables
Metal
1980s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Brass
2010s American Modern End Tables
Stone