Mid-Century Modern: Design of the 1950s and 60s

Mid-century modern is a design style from roughly 1945 to 1969 that combines the simplicity of modernism with soft, organic forms, new materials such as moulded plywood and plastic, and a belief that good design should be accessible. It covers furniture, houses, lamps and everyday products.

Facts

After the war: new materials and a new home

After the Second World War homes were built in enormous numbers in the United States and Europe, and people wanted light, practical and modern furniture. During the war industry had learned techniques such as moulding plywood and plastic, and these could now be used for everyday purposes. Modernism’s ideals from the Bauhaus became popular, but with a softer tone than the tubular steel and straight lines of the 1920s.

In American mid-century settings houses were built with large areas of glass, flat roofs and open plans, as in the Case Study Houses in California; compare the architecture of Philip Johnson’s Glass House and Farnsworth House, and the guide to Mies van der Rohe. See also the post-war period and post-war art.

Eames and American design

Charles Eames and Ray Eames stood at the centre. They experimented with moulded plywood already during the war, among other things for splints for wounded soldiers, and from 1946 they sold chairs of moulded plywood. The Eames Lounge Chair of 1956, made by Herman Miller in rosewood and leather, became a symbol of the comfortable, modern home. Their own home in California, the Eames House (1949), was built of ready-made industrial components.

Other names were Eero Saarinen, who made the Tulip chair and the Womb chair, Harry Bertoia with his wire mesh and George Nelson with the Marshmallow sofa. Many chairs were made to be produced on a large scale and to be cheap. Read about the chairs in the guide to chairs everyone should know.

Danish and Swedish: the warmth of wood

In the Nordic countries the style got a warmer expression with wood and craft. In Denmark Hans J. Wegner created his curved, sculptural wooden chairs, such as the Wishbone chair of 1949, and Finn Juhl his sculptural armchairs. Arne Jacobsen designed the Ant (1952), the Series 7 (1955) and the Egg (1958) of moulded foam and leather. Danish furniture became world famous; see Danish modern design and Scandinavian design.

In Sweden Bruno Mathsson made his bent birch chairs, and Poul Henningsen’s PH lamps gave soft light; the light was screened in layers. Read about the architect behind many Nordic homes in the guide to Alvar Aalto. Charlotte Perriand contributed in France.

Products, the Space Age and the legacy

The style was not only about furniture. Braun’s radio SK 4 (1956) and the pocket radio T3 (1958) by Dieter Rams are mid-century icons; read about Dieter Rams and good design. The telephone Ericofon (1954) and the Citroën DS (1955) show the Space Age’s curves, and the scooter Vespa (1946) put the style in motion. In the 1960s the forms became more playful and plastic, with Verner Panton in the lead; see the Space Age.

Mid-century modern lives on. Original furniture sells for large sums, manufacturers reissue old models, and the style has marked television series such as Mad Men. If you see an organic, light form with slender legs, a warm wood and a good deal of optimism, it may be mid-century. See also the category furniture.

How to recognise it

Exercise

Which material did Charles and Ray Eames use in their chairs from 1946?