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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1960s Swedish Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1960s Mexican Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1930s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Paint, Paper, Glass, Hardwood
2010s American Modern Drawings
Paper
1930s British Vintage Modern Drawings
Glass, Wood, Paper
Early 20th Century American Modern Drawings
Wood, Paper
1950s Danish Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1980s Mexican Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1950s Finnish Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1990s American Modern Drawings
Paper
2010s Modern Drawings
Paper
Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings
Paint
1980s South African Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
17th Century American Antique Modern Drawings
Paper
2010s Spanish Modern Drawings
Paper
2010s Spanish Modern Drawings
Wood
Early 20th Century American Modern Drawings
Paper
Early 2000s American Modern Drawings
2010s French Modern Drawings
Paper
2010s Spanish Modern Drawings
Paper
1980s French Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1980s Swiss Vintage Modern Drawings
Abalone, Paper
2010s Spanish Modern Drawings
Paper
1960s Swedish Vintage Modern Drawings
Other
Mid-20th Century French Modern Drawings
Paper, Crayon
1960s Chinese Vintage Modern Drawings
Metal
1960s Swedish Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1950s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Crayon
1980s Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1990s Modern Drawings
Paper
1990s Modern Drawings
Paper
Early 20th Century American Modern Drawings
Crayon
Late 20th Century British Modern Drawings
Paper
1980s French Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1950s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Ink, Paper
1970s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century Canadian Modern Drawings
Paper
1990s American Modern Drawings
Paint, Paper
1990s Polish Modern Drawings
Paper
1970s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Aluminum
1960s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Gouache, Paper
1950s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Gouache, Paper
Early 2000s American Modern Drawings
Metal
Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Drawings
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Drawings
Metal
Late 20th Century Burmese Modern Drawings
Paper, Crayon
1970s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Aluminum
1960s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Early 20th Century Danish Modern Drawings
Wood, Paper
1950s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper, Glass, Wood
1950s Swedish Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1970s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
20th Century French Modern Drawings
Paper
1950s French Vintage Modern Drawings
Other
1990s American Modern Drawings
Ash, Paper
20th Century English Modern Drawings
Paper
20th Century English Modern Drawings
Paper