Powell And Bonnell
Recent Sales
2010s Canadian Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Marble, Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Ottomans and Poufs
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Ottomans and Poufs
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stone, Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Wall Mirrors
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Table Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Table Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Table Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Console Tables
Lacquer, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Wall Mirrors
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Dining Room Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Side Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Console Tables
Stone, Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Console Tables
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Dining Room Sets
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Dining Room Tables
Stone, Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Side Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Night Stands
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Commodes and Chests of Dra...
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Stools
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A Close Look at Modern Furniture
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.