Modern Drawings
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Early 20th Century Danish Modern Drawings
Glass, Wood, Paper
1990s American Modern Drawings
Wood, Paper
Late 18th Century French Antique Modern Drawings
Canvas
20th Century Modern Drawings
Canvas, Wood
20th Century French Modern Drawings
Paper
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Drawings
Metal
Late 18th Century French Antique Modern Drawings
Canvas
Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings
Plexiglass, Wood, Paint, Paper
1950s French Vintage Modern Drawings
Silk
1990s American Modern Drawings
Acrylic
1940s Swedish Vintage Modern Drawings
Lead
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
Early 2000s French Modern Drawings
Paper
20th Century American Modern Drawings
Glass, Giltwood, Paper
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century American Modern Drawings
Metal
Early 2000s French Modern Drawings
Paper
2010s American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Mid-20th Century French Modern Drawings
Paper, Crayon
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
20th Century Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
20th Century Hungarian Modern Drawings
Canvas
1980s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Wood, Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Glass, Wood, Paper