The 'design decade' and beyond: American industrial designers and the evolution of the consumer landscape from the 1930s to the 1950s.

摘要

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.