Modern Dressers
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dressers
Plastic
1950s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Steel
1950s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Metal
1970s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Chrome
20th Century Italian Modern Dressers
Brass
1930s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Metal
2010s North American Modern Dressers
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Dressers
Lucite, Wood, Burl
1960s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Marble
1970s French Vintage Modern Dressers
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Brazilian Modern Dressers
Wood
1940s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Maple
1950s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Rosewood
2010s American Modern Dressers
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Dressers
Acrylic, Reclaimed Wood
1930s Swiss Vintage Modern Dressers
Pine
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Dressers
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Wood
1940s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Leather, Mahogany
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Dressers
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Wood
2010s Italian Modern Dressers
Brass, Iron
2010s American Modern Dressers
Brass
2010s American Modern Dressers
Maple, Oak, Walnut
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Dressers
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Modern Dressers
Brass
1970s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Brass
2010s Czech Modern Dressers
Wood, Birch
21st Century and Contemporary Lithuanian Modern Dressers
Wood
2010s American Modern Dressers
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Wood
Late 20th Century American Modern Dressers
Wood, Lacquer
Mid-20th Century Modern Dressers
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Czech Modern Dressers
Wood, Birch
2010s Portuguese Modern Dressers
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Dressers
Wood, Plywood
2010s American Modern Dressers
Oak
2010s Argentine Modern Dressers
Wood
2010s Philippine Modern Dressers
Rattan, Maple
2010s Dutch Modern Dressers
Brass
2010s Dutch Modern Dressers
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Dressers
Wood
2010s Portuguese Modern Dressers
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Dressers
Metal
2010s American Modern Dressers
Stainless Steel
2010s Italian Modern Dressers
Wood
2010s Portuguese Modern Dressers
Brass
2010s American Modern Dressers
Hardwood
2010s Portuguese Modern Dressers
Brass
1970s American Vintage Modern Dressers
Maple
2010s Philippine Modern Dressers
Rattan, Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Dressers
Brass