Norman Bel Geddes Designs America by Donald Albrecht - Abrams

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t t t t FOREWORD t t t tP6 t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t Staley Henshaw t t t t Thomas ttt t &tSusan tt t tJones tttttttttttttttttttttttttt

t t t t ACKNOWLEDGMENTS t t t t t t tP10t t t t t t t t t tTRANSPORTATION tttttt tttttttttttt DESIGNS & Cathy t t t t Donald t t Albrecht ttt t tHenderson t t t t t t t t t t(NEW t tTITLE t tTK) tP100t t t t t t t t t t t t t

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MODULAR & MOBILE P202

FUTURAMA P316

Christopher Innes

Lawrence W. Speck

Dave Croke

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ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt INTRODUCTION P12 “A FEW YEARS AHEAD”: tttttttt tt t t t t t t t t t t tDEFINING t t t AtMODERNISM tttttttttttttt Donald Albrecht P122 t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t tWITH t tPOPULAR t t tAPPEAL ttt

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FURNITURE

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THEATERS OF WAR P340

P226

Christopher Long

Christina Cogdell

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Jeffrey L. Meikle

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ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt N ORMAN BELtGEDDES AND SPIRItttttttt ttt ttt tA t t t t t T HE t FUTURE t t tIStHERE: ttt TUAL PHILOSOPHY OF ART P34 Danielle NORMAN BEL GEDDES AND ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt Brune Sigler THE THEATER OF TIME P134 t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t tSandy tt tttttt Isenstadt

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DOMESTIC MEDIA DESIGNS Nick Muntean

THE BEL GEDDES PROCESS Andrea Gustavson

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ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt tttttttt t t t VISION ttt tTHE tt t t t t T HEATER t t tPRODUCTIONS ttttt P156 t t t t t t t t t t P RACTICAL AND BUSINESS OF t DESIGN: tttttttt tt t t NORMAN t t tBEL t t t t tChristin t t Essin tttttttttttttttt GEDDES INCORPORATED P56 ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

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ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt I MAGINING CONSUMERS: NORTHEATERS P178 ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt Laura McGuire MAN BEL GEDDES AND tttttttt tAMERICAN tttt t t P78t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t THE MARKET Regina Leet Blaszczyk tttttttt tt tttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

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HOUSING P276

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Monica Pennick

Peter Hall

Nicolas P. Maffei

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WORKPLACES P296 Katherine Feo Kelly

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CHRONOLOGY

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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

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CONTRIBUTORS

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PHOTO CREDITS

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INDEX

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O

11 FURNITURE Donald Albrecht Long Christopher

ver the course of his career Norman Bel Geddes repeatedly engaged the problem of designing furniture for the modern age.

It was never a sustained inquiry for him, however; he accepted jobs when they came to him, and he “solved” these problems with his usual efficiency and well sharpened design logic. The result was a sundry collection of pieces, some good, some less so, some at the cutting edge, some decidedly retardataire, or at least unambitious. But Geddes’s furniture designs offer a chronicle of his shifting approaches to fashioning the modern environment, and even more, they reveal some of his attitudes and his aesthetic assumptions about living in the new industrial age.

One of Geddes’s first commissions for furniture came in 1928, not long after he opened his industrial design office, when he was asked to create a line of modern bedroom furniture for the Simmons Bedding Company of Chicago.1 He responded with a group of steel pieces sporting simple, right-angled lines and smooth surfaces (FIG. 1) . Their overall cast was remarkable for the time. They were unquestionably the most “modern” American designs of the 1920s, far more hard-edged and spartan than anything else being made in the country at the time.

In 1928, most American designers were still wedded to the modernized classicism of the French; what Geddes produced for Simmons was closer in form and spirit to works of the leading designers at the German Bauhaus or of the Dutch De Stijl movement. And Geddes not only made individual pieces with the new look but entire ensembles. The Simmons Company previously had only offered beds and nightstands; Geddes convinced Z. G. Simmons Jr., the company’s owner, to add dressing tables, a highboy, and various chairs to complete the suite (FIG. 2) .

But if the elemental cast of the pieces reflected the crisp-edged, geometric aesthetic of the European avant-garde, Geddes’s approach had at least as much to do with his belief in the importance of matching material and form. He had sought, he told one reporter, to use metal in a way that was true to its fundamental properties: “Metal furniture had previously imitated wood. This not only involves needless expense but is also poor sales psychology, bringing about an undesirable reaction when touch discloses

that the furniture is of metal. Materials should be permitted to be themselves, honestly and openly, in order that the best effects be obtained.”2 Yet Geddes’s “material honesty” had its limits.

Although the designs imitated neither wood nor traditional forms, most of their surfaces were painted, either “black and burnished,” so that they reflect “light like black glass,” or one of several other color combinations, “veridian green and brass, blue and ivory, and maroon lacquer and ivory.”3 The new line, which premiered at the Hale Bedding Company in New York City in mid-October 1929, was a great success—at least according to the publicity materials Geddes’s office sent out to the media. As a prepared write-up in Retailing described it, the pieces prompted so much attention from retailers and consumers that the store was reportedly “obliged to remove the suite from display because of the inability to supply the demand.”4 Given their keenly honed rectilinearity, it is difficult to imagine, in a period when Americans were just beginning to embrace modernism, that they were really so much in demand: The statement smacks instead of Geddes’s skill as a promoter for his own work. But the fact that the Simmons Company continued to produce the designs in relatively large numbers through the mid-1930s is a testament to Geddes’s capacity for finding a modern expression that many could accept—and would willingly purchase.

Geddes, though, was ever the pragmatist when it came to dealing with his clients. Immediately before he began working for Simmons, he had created a series of much less challenging designs—all for beds—for the Warren Rome Metallic Bed Company of Rome, New York. The beds, most executed in wood, drew from the standard language of the French-inspired “modernistic” style in America, with stair-stepped massing and classicized details (FIG. 3) . They were much less expressive of the new functionalism than the Simmons pieces, and, also, much less refined—undoubtedly a reflection of the client’s more conservative tastes and a testament to Geddes’s willingness to adapt his work to different needs.

Geddes’s desire to meet his clients’ requirements, rather than to proffer a more extreme design

Following page FIGURE 1

Simmons Company Twin Day Bed designed

by Geddes, c. 1928–29.

Photograph by an unidentified photographer, 10 x 8 in., 25.4 x 20.3 cm FIGURE 2

Model room showing bedroom furniture for the Simmons Company, c.

1929. Photograph by an unidentified photographer, 10 x 8 in., 25.4 x 20.3 cm FIGURE 3

Geddes-designed bed for the Warren Rome Metallic Bed Company, c. 1933–34.

Photograph by Russell T. Rhoades and Company, 10 x 7 3/4 in., 25.4 x 19.7 cm

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FIGURE 12

The sitting areas in the Norman Bel Geddes & Company offices, Rockefeller Center, June 27, 1940. Photograph by Richard Garrison, 10 x 8 in., 25.4 x 20.3 cm

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NO RMAN BEL GEDDES DESIGNS AMERIC A

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FIGURE 6

Spectators viewing Futurama from the “carry-go-round” conveyor, c. 1939.

Photograph supplied to Geddes by General Motors, 10 x 8 in., 25.4 x 20.3 cm Many of the popular photographs of Futurama focus on the experience of the spectator sitting in the moving gallery hovering above the model.

Following pages FIGURE 7

Model-maker constructing a bridge for the General Motor’s Futurama exhibit for the 1939–40 New York World’s Fair. Photograph

by Richard Garrison, 8 x 10 in., 20.3 x 25.4 x cm FIGURE 8

General Motors publicity photograph for Futurama, 1940. Photograph by Gjon Mili, 11 x 14 1/4 in., 27.9 x 36.8 cm A short press release about the image reads: “These two Manhattan youngsters, in search of unusual Eastertime adventure, explore the now famous General Motors Futurama, dazzling world of the future, visited by millions at the New York World’s Fair. Here, nestled in a smalltown churchyard, Mildred Cozzens and Wylie McCaffrey discover a nest of brilliantly colored eggs. The efficient motor traffic of the Futurama halted to witness the Easter spectacle, but will be resumed for the public on May 11, reopening date of the World’s Fair . . .”

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RCA for creating elaborate new molds or dies, Geddes Geddes’s most iconic had to craft his design from Emerson’s existing parts radio design, the FC-400 bin. Geddes designed a new tuning dial and star-enEmerson Patriot radio, c. graved control knobs to complement his admixture 1940–41. Plastic, 11 x 6 x 9 of components selected from older Emerson porin., 27.9 x 15.2 x 22.9 cm table models. The cabinet was cast from Monsanto’s “Opalon” plastic, a variation of cast phenolic resin, and was adorned with a red, white, and blue color scheme. Buyers could choose from three versions of the set, each with a different patriotic color as the dominant theme. (FIG. 11, FIGS. 11A–D, FIG. 12) . The Model FC-400 Patriot Radio hit retailers’ shelves in the fall of 1940 and was an immediate success, with one store reporting first-day sales of more than seven hundred units. The Patriot’s popularity led Emerson FIGURE 11

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to release a non-flag-inspired variation of the unit, dubbed “The Aristocrat,” which became a perennial best-seller.

Little more than a year after the Patriot was introduced, the United States formally entered World War II, and the entire electronics industry ceased consumer production to devote their facilities to the manufacture of military hardware.5 Despite the industry’s disruption, most manufacturers breathed a sigh of relief, as their factories were running at capacity for the first time in over a decade, and financial analysts forecast a profoundly rehabilitated postwar economy.

FIGURE 11A

For RCA, the effects of the World War II production hiatus were mixed. Though they had unveiled a prototype television console at the 1939 World’s Fair just a short distance from Geddes’s Futurama exhibit, the system required considerable work before it could be commercially viable. With all of the company’s research and development resources committed to the war effort, television—which they hoped would become their new golden goose—was postponed indefinitely. In the interim, RCA executives decided to focus their attention on totally revamping their existing domestic entertainment offerings, a strategy described by one RCA executive as intended to “counteract the pre-war impression of RCA instrument mediocrity.”6

NO RMAN BEL GEDDES DESIGNS AMERIC A

Preliminary drawing for the Emerson Patriot radio, c. 1940–41. Color pencil or crayon on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 in., 28 x 21.6 cm FIGURE 11B

Preliminary drawing for the Emerson Patriot radio, c. 1940–41. Color pencil or crayon on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 in., 28 x 21.6 cm FIGURE 11C

Preliminary drawing for the Emerson Patriot radio, c. 1940–41. Color pencil or crayon on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 in., 28 x 21.6 cm FIGURE 11D

Preliminary drawing for the Emerson Patriot radio, c. 1940–41. Color pencil or crayon on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 in., 28 x 21.6 cm 217

to eliminate the nooks, crannies, and cabriole legs that accumulated dirt in favor of a clean, practical FIGURE 9 look that would match any decorating scheme. Again Woman stepping out of drawing on consumer surveys, he applied this apa Nash car mock-up, c. proach to refrigerators that he designed for General 1941–42. Photograph by an unidentified photogra- Electric (GE), Electrolux, Frigidaire, and Kelvinator pher, 5 x 4 in., 12.7 x 10.2 from the early 1930s through the early 1940s. The cm first electric refrigerators, such as the GE Monitor Top introduced in 1927, had unsightly exposed coolFIGURE 10 ing coils on their roofs and small storage compartConsumer looking at drawing and model of ments. Geddes moved the coils to the back, enlarged refrigerator, c. 1941–42. and rearranged the storage space, and using a moduPhotograph by an unidenlar assembly system, created the basic refrigerator tified photographer, 5 x 4 design that is still used today.23 in., 12.7 x 10.2 cm This consumer-focused approach to product design set Geddes apart from efficiency-minded engineers and home economists and from factory art directors whose style choices were often based on past successes. For Nash cars, his New York staff built life-size mockups of sedans and studied people getting in and out of the vehicle to determine the proper positioning of the seats (FIG. 9) .24 This early form of ergonomic research sought feedback on comfort and convenience from potential users. For Kelvinator appliances, Geddes’s office conducted “500 personal interviews with housewives of all income classes in suburban New York and New Jer-

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sey.” Research subjects were shown design sketches and miniature models of electric refrigerators and were asked to vote on aspects of the interior layout and on the color, shape, and overall appearance (FIG. 10) .25 Much like Raymond Loewy, Geddes sought to determine which prototype “makes the greatest concessions, the one most acceptable to the market.”

His consumer research was applied to product development, with the idea of eventually introducing an “annual design change . . . with the minimum tooling and die changes.”26 This mode of trying to anticipate consumers’ changing expectations was a good fit for the evolving role of the consultant designer as a bridge between the spheres of production and consumption. Very much a man of his times, Geddes navigated around internal corporate roadblocks and gender-based cultural values to develop market research practices that focused on how real consumers reacted to particular products. A memo to Nash-Kelvinator summed it up. Design and development “should be approached from the consumer’s point of view only so that the goal set by the specifications is one which unquestionably will answer any consumer criticism and one which if achieved, makes for real progress, in the design and development of the units.”27

FLOW-MOTION

FIGURE 11

Geddes Flow-Motion design for the Jeray brand of jewelry, 1950.

Rice-Weiner & Company publicity photograph, 8 x 10 1/4 in., 20.3 x 26 cm

In June 1950, Rice-Weiner & Company, a major costume jewelry manufacturer with factories in Providence and a sales office in New York, introduced the Flow-Motion line by Norman Bel Geddes (FIG. 11) .

Jewelry manufacturers, clustered in Northeastern states from Massachusetts to New Jersey, competed on price, quality, and style. They employed in-house designers, but looked to consultants to give them a creative edge. This latest addition to the Jeray brand produced by Rice-Weiner consisted of ensembles of bracelets, necklaces, and earrings, and novelty pins that expressed the idea that form should follow function. The term Flow-Motion referred to the mechanics of the construction and the streamlined look of the neckwear. Each motif in the chain was hung separately so that the necklace could “conform to the shape of a woman’s neck as an elastic bathing suit conforms to her body. The result is of this flexibility is that any necklace will fit any woman.” Jeray president Martin Lasher called it “the first constructivist bit of thinking in jewelry.”28 Drawing on his experience as a costumer for the stage and screen, Geddes was a keen observer of women’s dress. Over the years, he grew frustrated with jewelry manufacturers’ reliance on traditional motifs, which led to an incongruity between the designs and the natural movement of the body. Geddes defied the decorative conventions of costume jewelry to introduce fluidity and freedom of movement. “Necks and wrists vary enormously in contour.

The necklace should lay upon and fit the modulating form of any neckline,” he explained. “I have tried to achieve this in my Flow Motion designs—to complete the artistic composition of the well-dressed women.”29 The wearer of Flow Motion did not have to check in the mirror to see that her necklace was straight: The design ensured that it moved as she did.

Geddes had experimented with jewelry design in 1940, when he created a line for Trifari, Krussman & Fishel, a well known Fifth Avenue company that eventually merged with Monet and then Liz Claiborne (FIG. 12) . During the Great Depression, the proliferation of inexpensive Bakelite plastic novelties whetted consumers’ appetites for trinkets in bright colors. By the mid-thirties, the newer acrylic

FIGURE 12

Geddes brooch and earrings design for Trifari, Krussman & Fishel, 5 November 1940. Pencil on paper, 8 1/2 x 11 in., 21.6 x 28 cm

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