Mid-century Modern: What Is It and Why Do We Love It?

Eames Chair, Classic Design

 

By now everyone has heard the phrase, mid-century modern applied to furniture, accessories, clothes, houses, and almost every trinket you can think of but what exactly is it? 

The design aesthetic of the middle of the 20^th century, which has been dubbed Mid Century Modern, or MCM, is generally thought to have begun in America with Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs and work in what he called “organic architecture”.  Organic architecture seemed to grow naturally out of the Arts and Crafts movement which stripped down the ponderous and over-decorated Victorian work that preceded it and simply took it to the next level of design.    If you ever get to visit a Frank Lloyd Wright house or even get a good look at some of the wonderful books on his work, you will begin to understand his deep belief that all elements of a building from the windows and floors and walls to the individual pieces of furniture intended to fill the space all relate to one another and in turn show the interconnectedness of nature.

                                                      Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water House
Wright and his contemporaries were influenced by the Bauhaus art school in Germany, which operated from 1919 to 1933. The Bauhaus was originally founded by architect Walter Gropius envisioning the idea of a "total" work of art. A place where all the arts including architecture, design and the fine arts would come together. The result was a profound influence on every facet of the art world which still resonates today. The Nazi regime dismantled the Bauhaus school calling it a hotbed of communist intellectualism in 1933 and others picked up where the Bauhaus left off.

 In America Bauhaus style was sometimes known as the International Style. This design work was different than the work that came before it in that it stripped away ornamentation and relied on the lines of a building or its furniture or accessories to carry its message. The American take on the Bauhaus and International movements was a bit less formal, but still closer to this design ideal than the Scandinavian and Brazilian architects and designers who were their contemporaries and worked in a more rigid aesthetic.

                                                                Classic MCM Living Room

Although mid-century modern is said to have begun in the mid 1930s and ends smack at the last day of the 1960s, its heyday was the 1950s. Post-war America was eager to forget the war and embrace prosperity and the new suburbs were a logical outgrowth of that march into the modern world. 

Architects were designing houses with lots of windows and floor plans which opened the living space and brought the outdoors in. The picture window wasn't just for a store front any more, every house could have a wide open view built right in. Suddenly, America had money to spend and a whole new way of thinking about home. In some cases, entire towns embraced the MCM esthetic such as Palm Springs, California, which is still famous for its mid-century neighborhoods.

The most famous MCM Chair from Eames

These modern homes called for a new type of furniture that fit in them better than Granny’s old carved sideboard and kerosene lamps.  The web is full of great examples you can look at in choosing what is and what is not MCM and what parts of it you may find appealing. Check out sources like Pinterest, which has some great collections that will inform you and give you a great educational view of “the look.”  Here is a link to one of my own favorites.

 http://www.pinterest.com/tikitacky/mid-century-living-or-why-i-envy-the-jetsons/

 And for some upscale excitement, here is a link on Domaine to some of the rarer MCM designers whose work is amazing.

 http://www.domainehome.com/popular-midcentury-modern-furniture-brands

A classic Adrian Pearsall coffee table

In keeping with Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision, the main thing we look for in mid-century modern furniture is clean organic lines, this furniture is not fussy and you feel like you can breathe around it. Geometric shapes and lines that are straight or aerodynamically curved were part of the look in the 1950s.The best pieces feel almost sculptural. MCM also brought a brilliant color palette into play for the first time in America, and black and white was popular too.

               Fun accessories have a sense of humor in the MCM world like this Baldelli kitty bank.

If you aren’t a black and white kind of person, look for accessories and upholstery and even furniture in jewel tones of yellow, red, blues and greens.  Burnt orange and harvest gold along with avocado green didn’t hit until the mid-sixties. Turquoise blue seems to be a thread running from the 1950s forward.

You will find lots fiberglass and plastics in the MCM world which was a whole new place with the advent of the Atomic Look. Hair pin metal legs on tables, plastic chairs, and glass kidney shaped coffee tables along with crazy lamps abounded and are still out there for the dedicated hunter to acquire. Fans of the Atomic Age design will love this link to a great Pinterest site:

 http://www.pinterest.com/gojazzy15/atomic-style-mcm/

 Teak and walnut seem to have been the most loved woods and are still found very often in these pieces. The best pieces are never overwhelming; they lack the ostentatious presence of pre-MCM furniture. Although these pieces are not cheap, they are solid and of much better quality than their modern replacements.

 

                                            MCM atomic era accessories are just plain wacky fun

Why do we love it? It could be nostalgia, perhaps for a time when the future looked amazing and anything was possible. Maybe it's respect for the craftsmen and manufacturers who took the time to create beautiful and durable furniture that in some cases became art in and of itself. That organic thing Frank Lloyd Wright was after may speak to us on some organic level in ourselves, we respond to the fine wood, the glass and sometimes the pure unabashed fun of these pieces.

If you love MCM yourself and you are just dipping a toe in the collecting waters, make sure the piece is well made and something you will love for a long time. There may be minor wear and tear from just living in the world all these years, but look for pieces that are still solid and unwarped. If there is any veneer is it in good shape? Is plastic or glass unscratched and clear? Will you need to reupholster? Can you find the right fabric to maintain the value of your piece? Are you willing to remove paint and refinish, remembering these finishes were very different than the ones applied now? Will you go the extra mile to bring back its beauty?

 In short, do you love it? Do your research; the internet is a treasure trove of good information and worth consulting before you sink two weeks pay into that chair you adore. Finders Keepers Antique Mall in downtown Olympia has several dealers whose first specialty is mid-century modern they are always bringing in gorgeous new pieces of furniture and accessories to the sales floor. Who knows? The piece you will hand down through the generations may be waiting for you now, love at first sight.