Modern Paintings
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
19th Century Antique Modern Paintings
Canvas
19th Century French Antique Modern Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Paint, Giltwood
Late 19th Century Italian Antique Modern Paintings
Wood
1880s American Antique Modern Paintings
Wood, Paper
19th Century Chinese Antique Modern Paintings
Paint
1890s European Antique Modern Paintings
Paint
1890s Spanish Antique Modern Paintings
Paint
19th Century American Antique Modern Paintings
Wood
Late 18th Century Chinese Antique Modern Paintings
Glass
Late 19th Century English Antique Modern Paintings
Fabric
Early 18th Century Chinese Antique Modern Paintings
Paper
Mid-19th Century Indian Antique Modern Paintings
Acrylic
Mid-19th Century Chinese Antique Modern Paintings
Silk, Bamboo, Glass, Wood, Paint, Paper
20th Century Italian Modern Paintings
Canvas, Wood
Early 19th Century Japanese Antique Modern Paintings
Silk
Late 20th Century European Modern Paintings
Canvas
Mid-19th Century Asian Antique Modern Paintings
Silk
19th Century Chinese Antique Modern Paintings
Paper
Late 19th Century Antique Modern Paintings
Giltwood, Paint, Paper
Early 19th Century Japanese Antique Modern Paintings
Silk
19th Century Danish Antique Modern Paintings
Paper
19th Century French Antique Modern Paintings
Canvas
Late 19th Century French Antique Modern Paintings
Stucco, Wood, Paint
19th Century Austrian Antique Modern Paintings
Paint, Canvas
Late 19th Century French Antique Modern Paintings
Late 19th Century German Antique Modern Paintings
Wood
Late 19th Century German Antique Modern Paintings
Canvas