STREAMLINE
MODERNE 1930-1950
STREA
MLINE
Contents 8
Quick Rundown •Overview of sections and topics to cover
10 Genesis •When it started •What it evolved from
14 Materials and Elements 16 Men Of Streamline •Who were the leading thinkers •Raymond Loewy •Walter Dorwin Teague •Norman Nel Geddes •Gilbert Rohde
20 Key examples •1930-50 style of tansport •1930-50 style of products
24 Streamline Graphic Design •Graphic design •Typography
26 Architectural design •Influential building design
28 Design of today and tomorrow
•Fig. 1.
New York World Fair Futurama Norman Bel Geddes (1939)
QUICK RUNDOWN
America was hit by the great depression during the summer of 1929. The infamous Wall Street Crash, also known as Black Tuesday, was the beginning of the most devastating economic crisis in the entire history of the United States. Stocks had lost 90 percent of their value and jobs were at an all-time low. Customer demand had shrunken to the bare necessities and the future of companies and looking bleak.
businesses was
New York Chrysler building (1928)
Vacuum The Art Deco movement came to light soon after the end of World War I, in a time of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. The movement began in France and then flourished internationally reaching England and as far as America and India. Lee Lawrie, Louis Lcart and Adolphe Cassandre were the lead thinkers of the movement and began to use distinctive bright colours, large bold geometric shapes and lavish ornamentation, avoiding any organic or floral figurations from Art Nouveau, the precedent movement. Art Deco was extravagant and flamboyant and gave off an aura of glamour and luxury.
Although the Streamline movement rebelled against the feminine, natural methodology of Art Nouveau, the two movements still showed similarities; they are both driven by the invention of new technology and they were both incredibly contagious styles, making there way into Graphic design, film, photography, architecture and transport design. The main difference between the two movements was that Streamliners wanted to strip back the exaggerated ornamentation of Art Deco; they felt that the ornamentation was purely aesthetic and had no purpose. American Industrial designers saw art deco as an “effete and falsely modern art movement�.
The difference between Art Deco and Streamline Moderne can be shown with examples of clocks designed from both movements; On the left, the Art Deco designer has used angular shapes to create a brightly coloured static geometric pattern. The clock on the right is dominated by the horizontal lines used commonly in Streamlined Design to express speed. In this case the design contradicts the ethos of Streamlined design that says that ornamentation should have a function as clocks have no need for aerodynamic features.
Executive office desk by Mauser Werke, Waldeck
Leading thinkers Raymond Loewy, Walter Dorwin Teague, Norman Bel Geddes and Gilbert Rohde, were the leading creators behind the streamline design movement and built the foundations of its dynamics and aesthetics.
Raymond Loewy
Norman Bel Geddes
Gilbert Rohde
Walter Dorwin Teague
Raymond Loewy Raymond Loewy was a French-born American industrial designer, known as the father of streamline design. Loewy was responsible for the establishment of industrial design as a profession and his influence extended over 50 years. Loewy was an artist, a business man and an inventor. He began his career as a designer by simplifying household appliances, consequently making them safer, easier to use and more aesthetically pleasing. However, his true passion rested with train design as evidenced by his book, Locomotive, in which he comments on a series of steam engine trains from various parts of the world. “My youth was charmed by the glamour of the Locomotive. I am still under its spell and in this volume I would rather write about the beauty of the magnificent creature to whom I owe some of my most cherished souvenirs.� - Raymond Loewy
Loewy ’s design of the streamlined, Art Deco styled, S1 locomotive train, at 42.74m was the longest reciprocating locomotive ever made. In 1945, alongside five other designers, he established the corporation, Loewy Associates, which was soon to become the largest industrial design firm in the world. In 1950, an article in the cosmopolitan magazine stated: “Loewy has probably affected the daily life of more americans than any other man of his time�.
Walter Dorwin Teague Walter Dorwin Teague was an industrial designer, architect, illustrator, graphic designer, writer, and entrepreneur. While Raymond Loewy was known as the “father of Streamline design”, Dorwin was referred to as the ‘Dean of Industrial Design”. His profession within industrial design began alongside Norman Bel Geddes, Raymond Loewy and Henry Dreyfuss, who, together, founded the ‘The society of industrial design’ in 1914. His work was well known for its traditional concepts despite later evolving to more modernistic values. Throughout America he was recognised as a critical figure in the spread of mid-century Modernism and Streamline Design. One of his most well known designs was the ‘Tiny Baby Brownie’ camera he created for Kodak. Using plastic he managed to warp and mould the camera into a sleek, minimal and stylish shape.
Norman Bel Geddes Norman Bel Geddes’ work mainly focused on aerodynamics and vehicles. Over the years he produced a number of futuristic concepts concerning the designs of trains, ocean liners, airplanes and cars. His ‘teardrop-shaped automobile’ was a prime example of Streamline Design. The unique characteristics of the car not only served as a bold manifestation of Streamline Design but also provided excellent visibility, thanks to its enlarged curves, rounded windshield and arched windows. The vehicle was without doubt a masterpiece of its time. Geddes had great confidence in the Streamline movement, his slogan was ‘I can see the future’.
Gilbert Rohde Gilbert Rohde was an industrial designer and marketing adviser for important companies like the Heywood-Wakefield Company, the Widdicomb Company, and the Troy Sunshade Company, the most influential businesses of their time. Rohde was considered to be more of an engineer than an artist, using a thought process as a means to produce his work instead of visuals and pre fabricated ideas. When fusing tradition with innovation he created entirely original designs. He experimented with different materials and styles to create a wide variety of chair designs, which resulted in huge interest and popularity.
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