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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Walnut
1960s Danish Vintage Modern End Tables
Ceramic, Teak
1960s Italian Vintage Modern End Tables
Ash
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Slate, Metal
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
1960s North American Vintage Modern End Tables
Brass, Nickel
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Bronze
1960s French Vintage Modern End Tables
Brass
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Cherry
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
1960s Danish Vintage Modern End Tables
Ceramic, Rosewood
Mid-20th Century American Modern End Tables
Aluminum
1950s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Ceramic, Walnut
1950s Italian Vintage Modern End Tables
20th Century Danish Modern End Tables
Teak
1950s Danish Vintage Modern End Tables
Teak
Late 20th Century Danish Modern End Tables
Ceramic, Teak
Mid-20th Century Danish Modern End Tables
Teak
20th Century American Modern End Tables
Smoked Glass, Walnut
1930s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Wood, Oak
1970s Norwegian Vintage Modern End Tables
Ceramic, Teak
Mid-20th Century Modern End Tables
Fruitwood
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern End Tables
Slate
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Walnut
1960s Brazilian Vintage Modern End Tables
Wood
1960s French Vintage Modern End Tables
Iron
1960s Danish Vintage Modern End Tables
Ceramic, Rosewood
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Bronze, Enamel, Pewter
1960s Brazilian Vintage Modern End Tables
Glass, Rosewood
1960s Vintage Modern End Tables
Marble, Brass
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Burl
1960s American Vintage Modern End Tables
Metal, Brass
1960s North American Vintage Modern End Tables
Brass
1960s European Vintage Modern End Tables
Teak
1960s French Vintage Modern End Tables
Bronze, Chrome