MCM art question

[oscargrey]

Im wondering what MCM means when referring to a piece of art. At first I thought it was a specific factory made piece but now thinking it means mid-century modern?

I tried looking it up but different explanations come up. 

[sonomabarn67]

Mid Century Modern, an industry-imposed design naming of anything made circa 1950-1970. Could be art, furniture, household accessories, etc...

[oscargrey]

Thank you! 

[sonomabarn67]

There are many subset categories within those dates as well. A magazine cover design, packaging, lamps, could go on for days...

[oscargrey]

Good to know thnx. Ive seen MCM attached to a number of vintage items. It gets confusing because Ive seen large contemporary abstracts ( sometimes shown over a sofa ) with MCM in the description. Maybe its referring to the mid-century modern style. 

[sonomabarn67]

Yes, that's it. On ebayMCM brings up 37,417 results in the vintage category!

[sonomabarn67]

Oops thats 7000 in vintage and 37,00 in collectibles or the other way around. Anyway, lots of listings for MCM.

[maxine*j]

And to confuse matters, some people (especially sellers on eBay) are now using "MCM" to mean the item was created or manufactured in the middle of the 20th Century -- although the style of the item might be Victorian, Rococo, American Colonial, or you-name-it, rather than the style representing the design movement of the time.

[jsales0]

Agree and that’s a problem IMO since the last M stands for modern. MCM has become a relatively useless keyword and if the item is really MCM one should put MODERNIST in the title as well.