Images from an exhibition of the same name at the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan, September 1986 through December 1987. Captions from Fannia Weingartner, ed., Streamlining America (Dearborn, MI: The Henry Ford Museum, 1986).
Click on the thumbnails for a full image.
It's An Airflow Age! From a booklet introducing the 1934 DeSoto Airflow automobile. Airflow Club of America
Chrysler Airflow, 1934. The Airflows were the first American cars to be designed according to the scientific principles of aerodynamics. Among the experts consulted by Chrysler was aviation pioneer Orville Wright, who helped design a small airflow. The Airflow was a commercial failure because of its unconventional appearance.
The World's Fairs of the 1930s. The 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago gave visitors a look at the wonders of modern technology. The machine-age architecture of the Exposition asserted itself in bold new forms and colors, reflected in this lively poster. This Century of Progress site argues that the fair was an "ordering site for progress."
The 1939 New York World's Fair. Trylon and Perisphere. A celebration of technological progress and consumerism. Streamlining was used to evoke an image of a glowing future. An optimistic preview of an orderly, healthy, and contented America shaped by the advances of science and technology working in concert with good design. "I Have Seen the Future." The Ferro Mural at the Western Reserve Historical Society is an example of the aesthetic. Ferro Corporation (see the Armco-Ferro house in the Bungalow and Ranch House Modern notes) commissioned the mural for the 1939 World's Fair. After the fair the mural was in the Terminal Tower from 1941 to 1982 until the Western Reserve Historical Society acquired it the following year.
Industrial design and the home. Appliances reflect the new aesthetic and the profession of industrial designer is born. 1932 Oriole Gas Range by Noman Bel Geddes.
1936 Spartan Radio by Walter Dorwin Teague.
Chairs by Charles Eames
Pedestal group by Eero Saarinen for Knoll Associates.
Cocktail set circa 50s
Redesigning the Package. From Victorian to Modern. In 1931 the Bon Ami Company introduced an attractively redesigned "deluxe package" to be sold alongside its standard can. In marketing the new container the company stressed that it was so attractive that it could be left in the open and need not to be relegated to the closet.
Old Peas
New peas. (Same peas).
Consumer packaging industry, 1937. Attractive packaging and trademark design (brand identification) had become important elements in promoting sales. A consumers lexicon with which we are all intimately familiar.
Listerine bottle circa late-30s. The use of angles, curved and parallel lines, and stylish lettering produced an arresting visual enticement for the consumer.
Evolution of the refrigerator. GE was one of the earliest appliance companies to grasp the importance of product redesign as a means of increasing sales. This illustration from a 1947 advertising book shows the annual model changes in GE refrigerators between 1927 and 1942.
Similar evolution in toasters. Streamlined and shiny.
GE waffle iron from the 1940s.
Spacelander bicycle, 1948.
Bendix Automatic Home Laundry, 1947.
The relationship between streamlining and merchandising is made clear in this 1939 brochure from the Libbey-Owens-Ford Company, manufacturers of Vitrolite glass. The brightly colored, highly designed, modern storefronts were touted as the only way to draw in customers who were bored by anything less than a Hollywood premier or a world's fair. Additional images from the Ontario, Canada Architecture Website. Note the Thunder Bay picture with black Vitrolite.
Streamlining humans. Photographer Hoyningen-Huene employed dramatic lighting an a stark backdrop to set off the contours of this Augustabernard gown. Vogue, September 15, 1933.
Body engineering. Women as test subjects.
Streamlining in politics. Albert Speer's lighting at the the 1934 Nazi party rally at Nuremberg. Subject of the infamous film Triumph des Willen by Leni Riefenstahl.
Westinghouse Electric building at the 1939 World's Fair.