Task 3 Part 2 - Individual Work: Norman Bel Geddes and Andy Warhol.

Streamlining, better known as Art Modern or Streamline Modern is an offshoot from the Art Deco design.  It began in the 1930's in America.  It was a movement that started because of the Great Depression of the 1930's.  Industrial designers took Art Deco designs however modified them.  The whole idea of this style was to create clean organic designs that most of the time evoked a sense of speed.

It is believed that this movement was influenced a lot by Constructivism, which is a philosophy that began in Russia in 1919. 

The 1930's was a decade packed with events.  So many things were happening due to the increase and fast growth in technology,  For example:

- 1931, The Empire State Building in New York City was finally completed.
- 1933, prohibition ends in the United States
-1935, social security enacted in the United States.
- 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge is opened.
- 1938, Volkswagen Beatle is created.
-1939, World War two begins and the helicopter was invented.

"The main characteristics of streamlining were: Horizontal orientation, curved edges, Glass brick walls, portholes as windows, chrome hardware, Stucco finishing on exterior walls, flat roofing and subdued colours." (Taken from wikipedia)

Some of the main pioneers of this style were: Norman Bel Geddes, Donald Deskey and Raymond Loewy.

Norman Bel Geddes

Norman Bel Geddes

 Norman Bel Geddes was born in 1893 in Ohio and died in 1958.  His career started in 1916 when Bel Geddes began designing sets for Aline Barnsdall's theater in Los Angeles.  He later designed a scene for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.  Apart from these, he also designed costumes for different shows in America. 


"In 1927 Bel Geddes opened an industrial design studio and began to design many commercial products.  His designs were very much futuristic."

Taking 'Airliner Number 4' as an example, Norman Bel Geddes designed this in 1929.  His design for this aircraft included a solarium, deck-game areas, an orchestra and a gymnasium.

His designs were so extravagant and out of the ordinary that he became very well know.  His famous designs lead him become one of the key figures in first generation industrial design.

Bel Geddes's most famous achievement was the 'Futurama' that he presented at the 1939 New York World's Fair.  This was a model of how Bel Geddes imagined the post-war city to look like.  His ideas can be contrasted to Le Corbusier's plans for the way Paris should have looked like at the time.  Bel Geddes envisioned a city consisting  of tall towers, big buildings and an idea of movement.


He is still considered the father of the term 'Streamlined' .







Pop design is an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950's in Britain.   Pop design was an immediate reaction to consumerism which was becoming more and more popular as it created a solution to the populations needs.  Unemployment in the 1930's was becoming more common and the second World War drastically reduced the populations spending's.  Companies were constantly trying to come up with new ways of getting people to buy things.  As a result discount stores began to target the middle class by selling good quality products for good prices.  In this way the middle class people began to afford things they could never have afforded in the past.  After world war two, more people began to buy things.  Advertising also increased spending rates especially since the invention of the television.  Consumerism is what brought about Pop design.

After the second World War people began to express themselves in different ways.  Pop design included items which were fun and exciting and also not so expensive.  Pop art involves a variety of different aspects from advertising to comic books.  It is a form of abstract expressionism very similar to the Dada movement.

Verner Panton

Verner Panton was born in 1926 and died in 1998.  He was born in Denmark and is considered to be one of the most influential furniture and interior designers yet.  He alway had very innovative design ideas and experimented with a number of different materials.  He liked to use plastics and used many different, vibrant colours.  Today he is still very influential and some of his works are still being mass produced.  With his designs, Panton sought to create magical,, unique, imaginative and fashionable interiors.

One of his most popular designs was the 'Panton Chair' (Figure one).  This design won several prizes around the world.  It is considered to be a design icon of the 20th century.  This chair was the first chair to be made completely out of plastic.  It cantilever base and its flexible material make it very comfortable to sit on.  The Panton Chair is still in product and is still used today.  Figure Two shows a newly constructed business cafeteria which makes use of the design.

Figure one

Figure Two

Because of the housing shortage, Panton was a big fan of high-rise way of living.  In the middle of this crisis he came up with the design of the 'Living Tower'.  This design was basically a seating area onto of another.  The idea was to create a 'multi-functional vertical unit'.  This seating unit is made from a wooden frame covered in fabric.  The right part can be separated from the left part to create two separate seating areas.






Both movements have been greatly influential on society.  They are both the result of social and cultural events and are still very influential today.

Referencing:

Paul Goldberger, 2013, Back To The Future, http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2013/10/norman-bel-geddes-designer-original-futurama, Accessed on 25/01/2014

Wikipedia, 2014, Norman Bel Geddes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Bel_Geddes, Accessed on 25/01/2014

Jennifer Roseberg, 2013, '1930's Timeline', http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1930timeline.htm, Accessed on 25/01/2014

Wikipedia, 2014, 'Streamline Moderne', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamline_Moderne, Accessed on 25/01/2014


2011, 'History Of Consumerism Since 1865', http://conhistoryjp.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/1930-1960/, Accessed on 25/01/2014

Bonluxat, 'Verner Panton Panton Chair', http://www.bonluxat.com/a/Verner_Panton_Panton_Chair.html, Accessed on 13/03/2014