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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Plexiglass, Wood, Paper
1980s Swiss Vintage Modern Drawings
Abalone, Paper
1980s German Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Plexiglass, Wood, Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century American Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
1980s Swiss Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
1980s Swiss Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1990s 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
20th Century North American Modern Drawings
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Mylar
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Mylar
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Mylar
Mid-20th Century Scottish Modern Drawings
21st Century and Contemporary North American Modern Drawings
Paper
1970s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Aluminum
Early 20th Century American Modern Drawings
Crayon
Early 2000s Spanish Modern Drawings
Paper
1970s American Vintage Modern Drawings
Aluminum
1960s French Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1940s French Vintage Modern Drawings
1990s Polish Modern Drawings
Paper
1930s Belgian Vintage Modern Drawings
Pencil, Paper
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Drawings
Wood, Paint
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Drawings
Steel
Early 2000s Spanish Modern Drawings
Paper
1990s American Modern Drawings
Acrylic
1980s French Vintage Modern Drawings
Paper
1990s French Modern Drawings
Paper
Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings
Paint, Crayon
1970s Swedish Vintage Modern Drawings
Other
2010s German Modern Drawings
Paper
Early 2000s Spanish Modern Drawings
Paper
Late 20th Century French Modern Drawings
Paper
20th Century French Modern Drawings
Paper
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Drawings
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Plexiglass, Wood, Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Plexiglass, Wood, Paper
1950s Italian Vintage 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 Modern Drawings
Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Mylar
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Mylar
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings
Mylar
20th Century French Modern Drawings
Paper
1990s Belgian Modern Drawings
Cotton, Paper, Acrylic