We're travelling together across the design highways and byways
of 20th century America when, suddenly, we collide with mid-century modern!
Except it insists it is NOT modern! What gives? Find out in...
Please,
no cracks about my skill with the hand-held scanner...
House Beautiful
January to June 1954
And here to greet us is the fabulous Russel Wright (hello again!)... Richard
Neutra... Raymond Loewy and Thomas Church! Why, look, there's Norman Rockwell
hawking a "Famous Artists Course" through the mail, Alan Ladd selling sofas,
Maria Tallchief and Ida Lupino pushing carpet and Igor Stravinsky trying
to get us to buy a high fidelity radio phonograph! Let's revel in the rampant
consumerism, unsettlingly vivid color schemes and the touching yet restrictive
desire to be tasteful that is 1954!
A few choice highlights:
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Fab ads for our favorite mid-century brands: Franciscan, Raymor, Stangl,
Schumacher & Waverly fabrics, big hulking Cadillacs, Lincolns and Fords.
Gorgeous full-page car ads with couture-clad lovelies! A fabulous four
page ad for Franciscan ware, including Desert Rose, Apple, Ivy, Trio, Starburst,
Echo and more!
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An heartening obsession with man-made materials: articles extolling plastic
films such as Naugahyde, Tolex, Ultron and Krene(!?); fabrics like Nylon,
Saran and Velon! (Are these materials or characters from "Godzilla vs.
Mecha-godzilla?") Cheerful puff pieces about laminates and lucite and Fiberglas
(tm)!
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"Is Modern Dead?" by Joseph Barry. Perhaps the first time this phrase was
uttered: "Modern is dead! Long live post-modern! " Another article
asks: "Is 'Modern' a Dated Expression?" (I don't know, all of this sounds
a little defensive to me... what, did they all start channeling Tom Wolfe?)
Modern? Oh no-o-o, not around here! Nuh-uh!
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So much to love: coverage of "Design in Scandinavia" show (perhaps the
birth of Danish modern?), elegant Thomas Church yard make-overs, travels
to Taos, recipes from Poppy Cannon. How to enjoy classical music, how to
make your own movies, how to install a room cooler and sew your own drapes...
it certainly was a pushy time in American design, wasn't it?
Now, some of you may have experienced the mid-century in THIS way:
So, would you say that material was Tolex or Ultron?
Maybe Gamera...