Mapping Modernity: The

Gallery View of Plotting Power: Maps and the Modern Age

All photographs by Lynton Gardiner

MAPPING MODERNITY:

The Power of the Map

Visit the museum at 10th and Washington Avenue, just down the street from the Art Deco Welcome Center.

By Lea Nickless The exhibition Plotting Power: Maps and the Modern Age on view at The Wolfsonian–FIU, a museum and study center located in the heart of the Art Deco Historic District, does what The Wolfsonian does best—it examines the modern age through its renowned trove of design, propaganda, and material culture. In this case, geographic imagery provides fodder for an exploration of international power dynamics and a framework to activate curiosity and make connections. Corporations, the media, states, and political alliances have long appropriated cartographic imagery to promote ideas and products and to associate themselves with the larger world. Focusing on the first half of the twentieth century, the exhibition explores how these institutions of power used maps and other representations of geography to influence diverse audiences. In this essay, I point out examples that show how designers employed Art Deco stylistic features in order to make these representations visually compelling. Often considered scientific and accurate depictions of reality, maps reflect an existing collective narrative, presenting spatial relationships through ever-shifting political, cultural, and societal filters. Further, maps are informed by the cartographer’s choices—what to include or exclude, what to emphasize or ignore. When these choices are driven by economic, nationalistic, or political interests, maps can become agents of manipulation with immense power to form global views. The exhibition encourages a consideration of “whose choices, why, and for whom?” and offers insights into the interests and intentions behind the imagery.

Business interests such as manufacturers of the radio, a groundbreaking early twentieth-century technology linking its audience to the world, frequently incorporated map and globe imagery in their design and marketing materials. This large-scale panel, one of six designed for the Westinghouse exhibition at the 1933 Chicago A Century of Progress International Exposition, positions Pittsburgh, headquarters for the corporation, at the center of a world map. Concentric circles radiate out, referencing the first commercial radio broadcast (a Westinghouse triumph) that “made the whole world a neighborhood.” The panels at the side depict the wide range of content delivered via radio—everything from concerts to boxing matches. The stylized images—a Deco hallmark—are rendered in inlaid Micarta, a Westinghouse plastic product developed for insulation but newly adapted as a decorative medium. International world’s fairs and expositions of the Deco era naturally embraced geographic iconography in architectural features, promotional materials, and souvenirs. The iconic Trylon and Perisphere of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the event’s central branding element, is an example of the incorporation of the globe as logo. The fair optimistically promoted “The World of Tomorrow,” even as the Second World War loomed.

Panel, Radio Broadcasting, 1933 Center panel from the Westinghouse Pavilion, 1933 Chicago A Century of Progress International Exposition; top and bottom panels from the Westinghouse offices, Pittsburgh, c. 1935 Booklet, New York World’s Fair, The World of Tomorrow, c. 1939 Tichnor Brothers, Inc., Boston, publisher The Wolfsonian–FIU, Gift of James and Martha Sweeny, XC2017.01.2.113

Imperial powers too recognized the value of geographic imagery in their promotional products—for both the colonizers and the colonized. In Great Britain, the Empire Marketing Board commissioned a poster from designer MacDonald Gill to promote trade with its colonies. First displayed on billboards at ten by twenty feet, it was the largest poster printed at that time. Smaller versions for public sales and distribution to British and dominion schools were also produced. The map’s unusual projection, an act of cartographic manipulation, positions the British Isles at its center, highlighting the empire’s extensive holdings in red. Map-related imagery aimed at children also proliferated. Maps, globes, and atlases filled classrooms and homes and factored prominently in children’s storybooks, toys, and games. From an early age, children were informed about their native land as well as their relationship to faraway places. This large-scale linoleum pictorial map of the

United States was designed for children as a play mat but also as a vehicle for information. A 1938 ad called it “a marvelous way to acquaint your children with their own United States!,” and enthused that “small children will love playing travel with their boats and trains, going from city to city, absorbing geographical facts without even knowing it!” American nationalism is evident in this sheet music cover in which beams radiate from a flag of the United States. Published by “I AM,” a California-based cult movement established in 1932 by Guy and Edna Ballard, the image connects to the movement’s promotion of patriotism. According to Ballard— who self-identified as the reincarnation of George Washington—the U.S. was to play an important role in an unspecified world plan. Conflict and war were by far the greatest generators of maps and graphic depictions designed to persuade and manipulate. During periods of conflict, political powers escalated the use of cartographic expertise in the service of creating division and hate-mongering. Frightening images were intended to control populations and trigger responses such as fear, anger, and hatred. Metaphorical maps inhabited by terrifying imagery as well as stereotypically racist depictions dehumanizing and demonizing the “Other,” created a powerfully divisive dynamic—“Us” versus “Them.” The exhibition includes multiple images of monstrous octopi, creatures evoking a visceral fear of evil lurking in the depths. This example, published in London by the Dutch government-in-exile during the Second World War, depicts Japan’s 1942 occupation of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) as a menacing yellow octopus, its head formed by Japan’s rising sun and its arms strangling the Dutch colonies in a sinister allusion to Japanese imperialist ambitions.

Top left: Poster, Highways of Empire. Buy Empire Goods from Home and Overseas, 1927. Macdonald Gill (British, 1884–1947), designer.

Left: Rug, Armstrong Quaker Rug, No. 4705, c, 1938. Armstrong Linoleum, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, maker Feltbased linoleum, paint

Above: Sheet music, America Our Own Beloved Land, 1939. May DaCamara (American, 1894–1976), designer; Godfré Ray King (b. Guy Ballard; American 1878–1939), composer; Saint Germain Press Inc., Chicago, publisher; The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Private Collection, T2020.1026.7

Left: Poster, Indie moet vrij! Werkt en vecht ervoor! [The East Indies Must Be Free! Work and Fight for It!], 1944, Pat Keely (British, 1901–1970), designer Regeringsvoorlichtingsdienst (R.V.D.), London, publisher. Offset lithograph. The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, TD1990.340.146

Below: Leaflet, L’Italia farà da sé [Italy Will Take Care of Itself], 1943 RY, designer. Psychological Warfare Division, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, Great Britain, publisher. The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection

The shape of a country, sometimes referred to as a logo map, appears in various contexts. The boot of Italy kicks a surprised Mussolini, his hat lifting off his head, in a Second World War-era leaflet that would have been dropped from aircraft over Italian troops in Tunisia. The title mocks a patriotic motto that was adopted to support the policy of self-sufficiency—autarchy—which was Mussolini’s response to economic sanctions. Insinuating that Italian troops should remove Mussolini themselves, this piece and other propaganda were produced by the Psychological Warfare Division, a British-American organization charged with undermining German and Italian soldiers’ morale. Despite tremendous changes in cartography over the last one hundred years, geographic imagery continues to resonate with power as a tool to gather, share and disseminate information about the world and to explore and interpret dramatic changes impacting everyday life. Present-day technology’s ability to generate data and broaden public access to information necessitates an ongoing process of vigilance to guard against bias, manipulation, or misinformation—the hidden pitfalls of maps.

These objects and their stories represent a brief glimpse of what is on view in Plotting Power: Maps and the Modern Age. For a deeper dive, visit The Wolfsonian, 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Wednesday–Sunday, 10am–6pm; open until 9pm on Fridays. Plotting Power is on view through April 16th. A companion book is available at the design store.