The "design decade" and beyond: American industrial designers and the evolution of the consumer landscape from the 1930s to the 1950s O'Malley, Christine Grace
ISBN: 0493727728
Summary:
This dissertation examines the role played by several consultant
industrial designers in the shaping of the American consumer
landscape from the 1930s to the 1950s. American consultant industrial
designers emerged in the second quarter of the twentieth century to
identify and articulate the aesthetic and functional potential of
industrially manufactured objects. These practitioners designed
mass-produced objects for a burgeoning consumer society, such as
cameras, dinnerware, refrigerators, and transportation vehicles, but
they also seized the opportunity to design commercial and retail
structures such as service centers, stores, showrooms, and department
stores. By expanding their reach into the realm of architecture,
these industrial designers used their specialized knowledge of
products and salesmanship to bring the world of consumption to the
built landscape. Their work challenged the established authority of
architects by offering their clients an unprecedented promise of
full-service design.
Throughout the 1930s, early consultant industrial designers like
Norman Bel Geddes, Henry Dreyfuss, Raymond Loewy and Walter Dorwin
Teague worked to articulate the scope of their new profession. The
first part of this study considers how these industrial designers
promoted their full-service design skills in articles and books, and
provided physical proof of their abilities in their designs for
commercial and retail buildings in the 1930s. Their active
participation in the production of exhibits for the 1939–1940
New York World's Fair and their self-promotion at this event assisted
their aim to legitimize their profession. In fact, their rapid rise
to fame brought them into direct conflict with many architects,
prompting discussions about the relationship between the two
professions during this period. The second part of this study
consists of case studies focused on the work produced by Raymond
Loewy's firm for International Harvester and Lord & Taylor in
order to demonstrate the ability of one consultant industrial design
office to fulfill its goal of full-service design. Their work points
to the frequently overlooked convergence between industrial design,
architecture, and consumption during this period. This dissertation
uncovers selected industrial designers' contributions to the
development of the consumer landscape, and the implications of this
work for architects.
Notes:
Adviser: Richard Guy Wilson.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 63-06, Section:
A, page: 2028.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Virginia, 2002.
Electronic reproduction.Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest Information and
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