Modern Prints
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Spanish Vintage Modern Prints
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1980s American Vintage Modern Prints
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1980s American Vintage Modern Prints
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1940s French Vintage Modern Prints
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1990s Dutch Modern Prints
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Early 2000s American Modern Prints
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Early 2000s American Modern Prints
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Early 2000s British Modern Prints
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1950s French Vintage Modern Prints
Glass, Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Prints
Canvas
Late 20th Century French Modern Prints
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1930s Spanish Vintage Modern Prints
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Late 20th Century American Modern Prints
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2010s Modern Prints
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1970s French Vintage Modern Prints
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2010s Modern Prints
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2010s Modern Prints
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1980s American Vintage Modern Prints
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1970s Spanish Vintage Modern Prints
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1970s North American Vintage Modern Prints
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1980s American Vintage Modern Prints
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Late 20th Century Spanish Modern Prints
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1940s Swiss Vintage Modern Prints
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1980s American Vintage Modern Prints
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21st Century and Contemporary Russian Modern Prints
Glass, Wood, Paper
1850s French Antique Modern Prints
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1970s English Vintage Modern Prints
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1980s Mexican Vintage Modern Prints
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1960s Japanese Vintage Modern Prints
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1960s French Vintage Modern Prints
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1970s German Vintage Modern Prints
Cut Glass, Pine, Lacquer, Paper
1970s German Vintage Modern Prints
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1970s Japanese Vintage Modern Prints
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1970s German Vintage Modern Prints
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1960s Swedish Vintage Modern Prints
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Early 2000s American Modern Prints
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1970s Japanese Vintage Modern Prints
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1960s Danish Vintage Modern Prints
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1960s Japanese Vintage Modern Prints
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Mid-20th Century British Modern Prints
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1980s Swedish Vintage Modern Prints
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1970s American Vintage Modern Prints
Glass, Wood, Paper
Early 2000s American Modern Prints
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1970s Japanese Vintage Modern Prints
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1980s American Vintage Modern Prints
Gold Leaf
1990s Swedish Modern Prints
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1990s Swedish Modern Prints
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1990s Swedish Modern Prints
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1970s Japanese Vintage Modern Prints
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Mid-20th Century American Modern Prints
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1990s Swedish Modern Prints
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Mid-20th Century Unknown Modern Prints
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20th Century Unknown Modern Prints
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1970s Spanish Vintage Modern Prints
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21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Prints
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2010s Canadian Modern Prints
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2010s Canadian Modern Prints
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2010s American Modern Prints
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