Until we meet again in 2022, you can still shop with our show dealers for great vintage modern art, furnishings, and fashion both virtually and at many brick and mortar locations. We hope you'll connect with the dealers and businesses who participated in our 2020 show below.

20th Century Cincinnati Media Sponsors

20th Century Cincinnati Show Information

Sharonville Convention Center

11355 Chester Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45246 (513) 771-7744

 Modernism

The broad movement in Western art, architecture and design which self-consciously rejected the past as a model for the arts of the present.

20th Century Cincinnati is the Queen City’s annual retrospective of vintage modern design: the avant-garde art, architecture, furnishings, decor and fashions that emerged between WW I and the Information Age.  Fueled by new technologies, materials and popular culture, Modernist trends included Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, Machine Age, Streamline, Mid-Century Modern and Op/Pop styles.  Many of these innovative designs were so far ahead of their times that they seem to have anticipated 21st-century lifestyles.

After 25 consecutive years of annual shows, 20th Century Cincinnati will be taking a pass in 2021 as we join in the effort to combat Covid-19.  Please mark your calendar for the return of great modernism to the Sharonville Convention Center on the weekend of February 26 and 27, 2022.  Join us once again as over 70 dealers fill the 20,000 square feet Exhibit Hall & adjoining conference rooms with classic modernist forms – many from the century’s signature designers and architects.

Best known for its fantastic selection of furniture and lighting, 20th Century Cincinnati also features period decorative objects, housewares, pop culture memorabilia, and an important fashion element.  From investment quality to fun & funky, 20th Century Cincinnati offers something for every collector’s budget.  Shop with confidence: this knowledgeable group of dealers pledges that all merchandise is “guaranteed as represented.”

Weekend activities kick-off with a two-hour Java Preview beginning at 9:00 a.m. Saturday.  Preview tickets admit patrons to the exclusive shopping period (complete with a complimentary coffee, tea and juice bar) and include a full-weekend pass.  Preview ticket ordering information is available on the Java Preview page of this website.

Regular show hours on Saturday and Sunday are from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  An $8 adult admission is good for both days.

20th Century Cincinnati Special Exhibits

Dating as far back as the last quarter of the 19^th century, Ohio (and Cincinnati in particular) has played a central role in the evolution of American ceramic art. Our 2020 Special Exhibit will focus on some of the superb Modernist ceramics created in the state between the Art Deco and Postmodern eras.

The display will include examples from Ohio art pottery firms Rookwood Pottery (Cincinnati), Roseville Pottery (Zanesville), Cowan Pottery (Rocky River), Sebring Pottery (Alliance) and others.

The handmade category called “studio pottery” will be represented with works from master Ohio potters Clyde Burt (Paulding County), Charles Lakofsky (Bowling Green), and Luke and Rolland Lietzke (Akron).

Modernist Mud – Ohio Formed and Fired is presented in collaboration with collector, dealer, and author Mark Bassett (Cleveland Institute of Art) with cooperation from Rachel Davis Fine Arts, the Clyde Burt family, and several private collectors. Only select examples of Lakofsky’s work – all purchased directly from the artist’s estate – will be offered for sale.

20th Century Cincinnati Dealers

Enjoy browsing the Dealer list and links and make plans to join us on the weekend of February 26 & 27, 2022 for a Modernist weekend in Cincinnati!

2020 Show Program Partners