Barter - Desiging for Democracy

8/4/2019 Barter - Desiging for Democracy

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The Art Institute of Chicago

Designing for Democracy: Modernism and Its UtopiasAuthor(s): Judith A. BarterSource: Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 27, No. 2, Shaping the Modern:American Decorative Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago, 1917-65 (2001), pp. 6-17+105Published by: The Art Institute of ChicagoStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4102827 .

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DesigningorDemocracy:odernismnd tsUtopiasJudith .BarterField-McCormickuratorfAmericanrts

Let s hereforereate new uildfcraftsmenithoutthe class-distinctionshatraiseanarrogantarrierbetweenraftsmennd rtists! et sdesire, onceive,and reatehenew uildingf he utureogether.twillcombinerchitecture,culpture,nd aintingnasingleform,ndwill neday ise owardheheavensromhehands fa million orkerss hecrystallineymbolfanew nd omingaith.Walterropius,919Businesss assuminghe roleofpatron eldby hechurchnd ristocracynpast ges.Frankaspers,943To onstructutopiasalwaysnactofnegationowardanexistingeality,desireotransformt.Leszekolakowski,9681

Theresno betterwayto introduce eaders oThe ArtInstituteof Chicago's rowingcol-lection of twentieth-centurydecorativeartsthan to offer a brief sense of both the ambi-tion and complexityof the modernist move-ment,whichdominated he cultural ife of thelastcentury, ndwhosepractitionersoughttodo no lessthaneliminateraditionalistinctionsbetween ineartand craft.As the abovequota-tions suggest,moreover, hey did so in a waythatinvested he objectsthey designedwith apowerful, andindeedutopian, social impor-tance.In reconsideringhe historyanddiver-sity of modernistdesigns, t quicklybecomesapparenthat not allversionsof modernism--ormodernist isionsof utopia-were thesame,andthatan aesthetic hatbeganaround he turnof the twentiethcenturywith an eye toward

socialist,democratic eformendedup, bymid-century,as the visual languageof Americanconsumercapitalism.Our story here is a taleof how a European-inflectedtyle establishedandtransformedtself on American oil-andon a local level n Chicago'smuseums,depart-ment stores,and expositions--sharing spacewith historicistdesigns, experimentingwithAmericanforms,andworking its way into acentralpositionin both the Americanmarket-placeandthe national magination.

Historicalhindsightallows us to describemodernism as an extended revolution thatemphasized ew technologies,new styles,newpatterns f socialrelations, nd a new challengeto traditional forms of aesthetic thought.Modernismwas far from uniform, however;as the social historian Raymond Williamsfamouslyexplained, t was often more recog-nizable by what it was breaking away fromthanwhat it wasmovingtoward.2t isperhapsmore useful to think about modernism as acollection of relatedstyles, dating from the189os to the 195os,andincludingthe WienerWerkstitte, Deutscher Werkbund,De Stijl,GermanBauhaus,FrenchArtModerne,Scan-dinavian organicist, and American stream-lining schools. Such modernist approacheswerecharacterizedbyrichvariations hat arosefromdifferingnationaldesigntraditions,andpreferencesor diversematerials nd methodsof manufacture.

Whileeighteenth-andnineteenth-centuryantiquariansaluedartobjects or their ntrin-sic worth andhistoricalassociations(such as

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DesigningorDemocracy:odernismnd tsUtopias

FigureFrankLloyd Wright(American;1867-1959).Renderingof theliving room of theAvery Coonley House,Riverside,Ill. (1908).Ausgefiihrte Bautenund Entwiirfe vonFrank Lloyd Wright(Berlin, 1922), pl. 57.

theirrelationship o classicalsources),mod-ernistdesigners n generaleschewed histori-cism anddecoration,and aimedto achieve ntheir work a complete integrationof art,sci-ence,and echnology.For them theobject, ikethe humanbeing, ideally representeda bal-ance of the emotionaland the intellectual,heintegration f artand ife,and heacknowledg-mentof humanneedandpotentialnallthings.3Highly influentialwas thenotion of Gesamt-kunstwerk,or the "totalwork of art,"whichblurs the lines between furniture,glass, pic-tures, sculpture,and their settings. Indeed,many leadingmodernistswere at once archi-tects,artists, ndgraphic nd ndustrial esign-erswho crossed raditional rofessional oun-dariesnorder o create omplete nvironmentsfor living.While modernism issued a clear call toreject history and celebrate the new, it didnot, likeVenus,risefull-grownfrom the sea.If it formed a clearbreakwith the past,mod-ernismdrew from it aswell-especially fromtheutopianvision of its immediateprecursor,

the Arts and Craftsmovement. Founded inthe mid-nineteenth century by WilliamMorris,JohnRuskin,and otherEnglish ntel-lectuals and socialists, the Arts and Craftsmovement was itself decidedlyantimodern,decrying the evils of industrialization, theloss of individualcraftsmanship nddignity,and the shoddy productsof machine manu-facture.Turningnostalgically o a preindus-trial model of life and labor,its proponentsglorified he handworkof folk traditionsandmedievalguilds. They espoused the simple,"honest" rafting f objects hatweredevoidofanydecorationwhichmightobscure he sim-plicityof theirmaterials nd construction.'Influential n the architecture nddesignof earlymodernists uchas FrankLloydWrightinAmerica seefig. i), the Arts and Craftsphi-losophy inspiredEuropean ollowers such asCharlesRennie Mackintosh n Glasgowandthe WienerWerkstditten Vienna(see fig. 2),and remainedpopularwell into the twenti-eth century; ndeed, two of the earliest Artsand Craftssocietiesin the United Stateswere

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founded in Boston and Chicago in I897.'But the movement'smphasis n handlabor--and on quality materials that might bringparticularpleasure o craftspeople--resultedin products that were simply too expensivefor their intended audiences to afford,andundercut he socialist deasof theorists uch asMorris, who dreamed of satisfied, skilledworkersproducing ine,beautifullydesignedobjects for every home. Summing up thisdilemma,Morrishimselfcomplained:"Ihavegot to understand horoughlythe mannerofwork underwhich the Art of the MiddleAgeswasdone,and that s theonlymannerof workwhich can turn out popularart,only to dis-cover hat t is impossible o workinthatman-ner ntheprofit-grindingociety. . ."6Inprac-tice, Morris'spopulist dream collided withtherealityof capitalism.While Arts and Crafts practitionersregardedthe machine as the enemy, it wasnot long before a younger set of modernistdesigners began to find the look, materials,and use of the machinepractical, lluring, ndinspirational,nd started o imagine he socialpotentialof mass-produceddecorative rts na fundamentally ifferentway.In the wakeofWorld WarI, which introduced temperedglass, tubular metals, and processed woodproducts nto themarketplace,arlymodernistdesigners uch asMarcelBreuer,LeCorbusier,WalterGropius, and Ludwig Mies van derRohe, among others, incorporated theseindustrialmaterials nto theirwork. Duringthe mid-i92os, for example,at the Bauhausart school in Dessau, Germany,BreuerandGropiuscreated parenteriorsdecoratedwithaustere,durable,ightweightmetalurniture fa standardized esign(seefig. 3)-not unlikenewly availableappliancessuch as vacuumcleaners ndrefrigerators-andpromoted heircreationsas affordable,hygienic,and resilientalternativeso traditional omefurnishings.

While the forms of thesedesignswereinpartdictatedby the materialsof which theyweremade,manydesignersalsopreferredhemachine-inspiredook because heybelieved tallowed hemto fashion a newer, impler, ndmore affordable environmentfor the post-World WarI world. Modernists ook up theArts and Crafts reformist programof pro-ducingholisticallyconceived,well-designedobjects for everydayuse, and embracedthephilosophythatgood designmight,by bring-ingunityto thearts,operateas a tool for socialchange.UnlikeArtsandCrafts dherents,ow-ever,modernistsmaginedhat heymightreachconsumersmoreeffectivelyby workingwithindustry o create tandardized,heaplymanu-factured roducts.Themachine,hey thought,couldhelpdemocratizeesign,andbringaboutautopiacharacterizedot by revivinghepast,but by achieving echnologicaladvances hatwouldresultnahigher tandard f living or all.Arts andCraftsantiquarianismnd modernistfuturismmightat firstseem to haveexisted noppositiono oneanother, uttheywere nfact

FigureJosef Hoffmann(Austrian;1870-1956).Dining room for thePalaisStoclet,Brussels(1905-II). Photo:Bildarchiv PhotoMarburg.

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equallyutopian.Whileoneglorified and abor,bejeweled offers,and silver ankards, ndtheotherpromised heefficiencyof manufacturedchromeandglass,both believed n somethingmorecompellinghan hepresent.7Not all moderniststyles,however,werefueledby a drive oward mproving ocialcon-ditions and makinggood designuniversallyaccessible. ndeed,FrenchArt Moderne,oneof themost nfluentialtatementsn theemerg-ing conversationabout the shapeof contem-porary ife anddesign,was devotedneither orejecting tylisticprecedents orto embracingaffordabilityfor the masses.Popularizedatthe 1925 "Expositioninternationaledes artsddcoratifset industrielsmodernes"in Paris(seepp. 19-20), "ArtDeco,"asthisstylecameto be called,was characterized y its design-ers' and consumers' persistent appetite forluxuriousmaterialsand historicalreferences;

its proponents, or example,wereparticularlyinspiredby late-eighteenth-and early-nine-teenth-centuryFrench neoclassical urnish-ings.8Like othermodernisms,Art Deco wasinformedby what camebefore it, and nine-teenth-centuryFrench decorativearts wereshaped by an exaltationof the ancienrdgime,of "those traditions, all French, of grace,refinement, of elegance,and, to be sure, ofluxury."9 Unlike other European modernists,whose social idealism lead them to unite ingroups uchas theWienerWerkstlitte,auhaus,and De Stijl,to design,produce,and distrib-ute modernobjects, manyFrenchpractition-ers still relied on a design concept basedonthe aristocratic and craft traditions of theeighteenth century.1" erhapsmore impor-tantly, he Frenchcontinued o approachdec-orationas a separatessue,whileby the 1920osother devoteesof modernismn Austria,Ger-many,andHollandhad cometo treat t aspartof an uncluttered,totally designedarchitec-turalenvironment."

In America,however, he history,stakes,and social uses of moderndesignwere sub-stantially ifferent. mergingromanextendedmoment during which, as Herbert Hooveradmitted elf-consciously,he nation'sdesign-ers "hadalmostnothing o exhibit n themod-ern spirit,"Americans were presentedwiththechallenge f forginga modern tyleof theirownthroughboth nnovation nd mitationseepp. 19-21).12 One directionof reaction s sug-gested by the designsof the Austrianimmi-grantPaulT.Frankl,who embraced he sky-scraperas the signalmotifin his own attemptto createa distinctivelyAmerican brand ofmodernism (see cat. no. 5).To arrive at hisvisionof unadorned erticality, rankl ejectedhistoricalmodels andfinematerials-instead,he promoted the skyscraperas a compellingsymbol of a modernAmerican culture that

FigureWalterGropius(American,bornGermany;1883-I969).Dining room inone of the "Master'sHouses,"Bauhaus,Dessau, Germany(1925). MarcelBreuer(American,bornHungary; 1902-1981)designedthe tubular-steel table and chairs,and Laszl6 Moholy-Nagy (American,bornHungary; 1895-1946)conceived the wall andceiling painting.Courtesy of theBauhaus-Archiv, erlin.

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was driven ndshapedbythe forcesof industry.Theskyscraper epresented similar ptimismin the work of contemporaryartists such asGeorgiaO'Keeffe seefig.4) andJohnBradleyStorrs,whose gleamingfigure Ceres(fig. 5),commissioned for the top of the ChicagoBoardof TradeBuilding 1927-30o), pitomizesthe connectionbetween sleek moderndesign,progress,and thepowerof business hatfasci-nated he American ublic oryears o come.Of the moderniststyles,both Europeanand homegrown, circulating in the UnitedStates during the 910osand 1920s, Frankl'santihistorical model was by no means themost influential. Americansliving in majorurbancenterswould haveencountereda vari-etyof modern urnishingsnmuseums,depart-mentstores,andworld's airs.In Chicago, orexample,he ArtInstituteplayedanimportantrole in promoting modernism as politicallyprogressiveandeconomicallyaffordable.Themuseumhosted thetraveling xhibition"Ger-manAppliedArts" 1912-13), which featuredthe productsof the DeutscherWerkbund, norganizationof designers,manufacturers,ndmuseums hatpromotednew Germandesign.Thispioneeringexhibition seefig.6) demon-strated he diverserangeof modernistexpres-sions, and showed that artists and architectscould work with merchants nd industrialiststo produceaffordableobjectsthatimprovedpublic taste.All the pieces in the show werefor sale, and while the Art Institute did notacquire any, Chicago collectors purchasedone hundred and five objects.WilliamM. R.French, he Art Institute's irectorat the time,remarked hat"inGermany hereseemsto beno distinctionbetweenartistandcraftsman...and that ntelligentandsympathetic oopera-tion between artists and manufacturershasproveda conspicuous success."13espite thepopularityof thisdisplay n the citieswhere twasshown,WorldWar dampenedAmerican

FigureGeorgiaO'Keeffe(American;1887-1986).The Shelton withSunspots,1926. Oil oncanvas;123.2 x 76.8 cm(48Y2 x 30o4 in.).The Art Institute ofChicago, giftof LeighB.Block, 1985.206.

FigureJohn BradleyStorrs(American;1885-1956).Ceres, 1928.Copperalloyplatedwith nickel,then chrome;67.3cmhigh on 12.7 x 15.2 cmbase (26 /2 in. highon 5x 6 base).The ArtInstitute of Chicago,gift of John N. Stern,1981.538.

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enthusiasm for things German, and furtherWerkbund exhibitions did not materialize. By1922, however, objects from Joseph Urban'sNew-York based Wiener Werkstditte f Amer-ica, Incorporated, prompted positive presswhen exhibited at the Art Institute (see fig. 7).One Chicago reviewer, for example, pro-claimed that the new life and vitality he per-ceived in the show reflected an internationalmovement that rejected conservatism andemergedfrom the work of "progressive eaders

in present-daydeaswho feel that n our timestheremustbeprogress ndperpetual hangendecorative rts even as there are n all the artsand sciences. "14

The majorityof modernist furnishingsavailableo Chicagoansat this moment seemto have been offered for sale at high prices,and in relatively exclusive establishments.Likemajorretailersn other Americancities,Chicago's department tores showed a greatinterestin Art Moderne (or Art Deco), andpromoted it more aggressively than othermodernist tyles.Commercialnterestn mod-ern furnishingsseems to have escalatedafterthe 1927 "SwedishContemporaryDecorativeArts"exhibitionat the Art Institute seefig.8),whose name reflected ts organizers'goal ofpresenting o viewers the elegance radition-ally associated with handblown glass, fineweavings,and other handcrafted oods,oftenat lessexpensivepricesthanFrench mports.15Therewas nfactan mplicitassumption n thepartof Chicagoanshat Swedish ociety-andScandinavianculture generally-was moredemocratichan heFrench,more ikethe com-fortableifestyleof the Americanmiddleclass.'"At around the sametime, the exclusiveCharlesA. StevensandBrothers tore, ocatedin Chicago'sLoopbusinessdistrict, lsoopeneda smallgift gallerysee ig.9).At StevensBroth-ers,modern urnishingsook on achic,sophis-ticatedlook, muchlike the store'sexpensivedresses. Cateringto a wealthy clientele, thefirmdevelopedadesignvisionin keepingwiththe eleganceand richnessof Frenchmodern-ism. StevensBrothersbelieved hat modernistfurniture should not be mass-produced ofnew industrial materials,but rather hand-craftedof fine fabric, eather,andwood, as atestament o the discriminatingaste of bothdesignerandpatron.17 different nterpreta-tion of the modernist aestheticprevailedatanother new establishment,Secession, Ltd.,

Above:Figure"GermanAppliedArts"at the National ArtsClub, New York, 1913.Shown at The ArtInstitute of Chicago,Feb. 27-Mar.16,1913.

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opened in 1927by architectsRobert Switzerand Harold Warner see fig. io). Influencedby their travels n Austria,France,Germany,and Sweden,Switzer and Warnerdecoratedtheir shop's interior in blacks, whites, andgrays,with unbleachedmuslinfabrics,Ger-man and Swedishwallpapers,andtall,blackcabinets f theirowndesign,not unlikeFrankl's"skyscrapers.18The Art Instituteparticipatedn the com-mercialpromotionof modernisturnishings swell:In 1928 Warner,longwith the museum'scurrentdirector,RobertHarshe,oinedagroupof Chicago businessmen and artsorganiza-tionsinsponsoringhe"Exposition f ModernAmerican Industrial and Decorative Arts,"held at MandelBrothersdepartmenttore(seefig. ii). Although the organizersexhibitedacoppercoffeetableand mirrorby Frankl, hedecorative accessories they displayed weremainly examples of French Art Deco design.19As at StevensBrothers,heemphasiswas not onthe functionalismor economic restraint ftenassociatedwith Germanmodernisturnishings,but insteadon therare,uxuriousmaterialshatcharacterizedhe upscaleArt Modernestyle.In the wake of WorldWarI, prosperousChi-cagoans, raditionally rancophilicn the firstplace,regarded xpensive, hic Parisian esignsmorefavorablyhan Germanones.Of all the Chicago department storesselling inerfurnishings uring he 1920s,onlyMarshall ieldandCompanycatered o a widerangeof tastesandbudgets.Making he obvi-ous connectionbetweenmodernistdesignandexpense,one critic wrote in 1927 hat Field'sdisplayed its modern interiorsin the modelrooms of a "cosmopolitan"city apartment,and showed affordable maple reproduc-tions of early-American iecesin its "budgethouse,"which featuredrooms furnished forunder $1800oo.n thesedisplays,homey,small-patternedwallpapers, ookedrugs,and chintz

draperies omplemented"late-Georgian"nd"Adam-style"urniture.20 ield'sdepartedromprevailing Art Deco influences in furnish-ing the "cosmopolitan" ied-a-terre,present-ing German-modernistinspired objects byPeter BehrensandWolfgangHoffmann(seecat.no. 13),and silkdoorwayhangingsby theWienerWerkstdittef America.21

Field'sunevenmix of colonial and mod-ernist furniture can be seen, in fact, to haveresulted rom-and indeed o havecapitalizedon-a largercompetitionbetween historicistand modernist impulses in the 1920os. On alocallevel,Chicago,as a city with a continualvisual history datingto only after the GreatFire of 1871,manifested ts cultural nsecuritythroughan attraction o the colonial past ofthe East Coast. Thispenchantmergedwith awidernationalnterestnAmerica'sighteenth-centuryculture,which waspartlya conserva-tive reaction to increasing mmigrationandtheperceiveddilutionof thecountry'sAnglo-Saxonracial tock. It later constituteda reas-suring, backward-looking response to thehardshipsof the GreatDepression.Nostalgiafor what was believed o be America's oldenage prompted businessmen such as Henry

Oppositeage,below:Figure"Modern AustrianArt,Assembledby WienerWerkstatte f America,"The Art Instituteof Chicago, Sept. 19-Oct. 22, 1922.Photo: Good FurnitureMagazine 19,6(Dec. 1922), p. 259.

Above:Figure"SwedishContempo-raryDecorative Arts"at The MetropolitanMuseum of Art, NewYork,Jan. i8-Mar.20,1927.Courtesy of TheMetropolitanMuseumof Art.

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FigureThe Art ModerneShopin the CharlesA.StevensandBrothersStore, Chicago, Ill.Photo: Good FurnitureMagazine 30, 2(Feb. 1928), p. 72.

Ford andJohnD. Rockefeller,r., o promotearomantic view of the nationalpast throughsuchenterprisesas ColonialWilliamsburgnVirginia1926)and GreenfieldVillagen Dear-born,Michigan1929).

Even as affordable mitationsof colonialfurnishingsofferedtheir userstangible,com-forting remindersof a simpler past, a new,uniquelyAmerican tyleof streamlinedmod-ernismemergedin the 1930s, uring buyerswith imagesof futureprogressandprosperity,andreactivatingmodernism'stopian,populistpotential n the serviceof American ndustry.Indeed, after the Depression began, manyAmericandesignersrejectedArt Deco'sopu-lence but retained its sleek curvilinearity.23Streamlining proved the ultimate market-ing tool for a stagnant economy: industryredesignedproductsof all kinds in order tostimulate consumption and restore publicfaith n corporateAmericaas theprimesourceof nationalprogress.By aligningitself withmachineefficiency,aerodynamicdesign,andscientific innovation, industry worked toremake tsimage,casting tself as an economicsavior capable of defeating the worst eco-nomic disaster n Americanhistory.An early, pectacular xampleof the con-nection between streamlining, echnological

utopianism, and corporate image-makingoccurred at Chicago's "Century of ProgressInternationalExposition" of 1933,which oper-ated to some extent as anurban, modern alter-native to establishments such as Colonial Wil-liamsburg and Greenfield Village. Celebratingthe ennobling forces of science and industry,the exposition marked the city's growth overone hundred years from a small village to anational center of commerce, culture, andtransportation.The futuristic forms of the fair'sbuildings, interior furnishings, and consumerproducts embodied the speed of progressitself. During the exposition, for instance,corporate sponsors furnished model houses ofvarious styles with tubular-metal furniture(see p. 48, fig. i, and cat. no. 13); he ChryslerCorporation introduced its aerodynamic Air-flow auto design; and the Chicago Burlingtonand Quincy Railroad unveiled the BurlingtonZephyr engine, which astonished crowds withits gleaming, stainless-steel casing and sleeksimplicity (see fig. 12).23The Depression assuredthe transfer of artistic patronage from wealthyindividuals to corporate sponsors, and at the"Century of Progress" exhibition large cor-porations displayedtheir (andimplicitlyAmer-ica's) technological prowess through brightlycolored, vertically massed buildings and pavil-ions (see fig. 13).The fair cemented the associa-tion of modernism with a new, fast-pacedlifestyle, emphasizing streamlinedliving, time-saving technologies, and a vision of an Ameri-can culture in which the machine enabled afuture of limitless progressand prosperity.

During the 193os,America'spremier cul-tural institutions continued to join with busi-ness in promoting modernism and defining itsshape:in New York, for example, the Museumof Modern Art organized a series of enor-mously popular exhibitions that began in i93iwith "The International Style: Architecturesince 1922." In 2934director Alfred H. Barr,Jr.,

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andarchitect/curatorhilipJohnsoncollabo-ratedon "TheMachineAge,"whichshowcasedmore than four hundredobjectsranging romindustrialproductsto home furnishingsandappliances. rivileging functionalist,minimal-ist aestheticover FrenchArt Deco, the showsolidifiedthe museum's ongstandingalliancewith the Bauhaus ndInternationaltyles.This link between the United Statesandthe InternationalStylewas furtherstrength-enedby thelargenumberof foreigndesignersfleeing Europe in advance of WorldWarII.Breuer,Gropius,Mies, and Laiszl6Moholy-Nagy all immigratedto the United States,the lattertwo resuming heir careers n Chi-cago-Mies at the Armour Institute(eventu-allyrenamed he Illinois Instituteof Technol-ogy), andMoholy at the New Bauhaus laterknown as the Institute of Design). Graphicand industrialartists ike HerbertBayerandEgbertJacobsen oundwork atChicagocom-paniessuch as the ContainerCorporationofAmerica,wherethey used modernisttypog-raphyanddesignsto signala new corporate"look."24DuringWorldWar I,thecompany'schairman,WalterPaepcke,discoveredmod-ernism'spower to promote products and,more importantly, to construct the publicimageof the corporation tself;many othersfollowed his lead, aligning their corporateidentitieswith the defense of democratic re-ativity,culture,and individual freedom andinitiative.In the postwar years,at headquar-ters fromChicagoto New York andbeyond,sleek chrome and glass International Stylefurnishings oined modernistgraphicdesignand abstract art as the aestheticlanguageofcorporatenfluence(seefig. 14).25If modernismemergedas an expressionof Americandemocracy n the boardroom, ttook on similarmportancen thelivingroom.Whilecorporationspreferred xpensivemod-ernist urnishings ssymbolsof theiraffluence

Above:Figure0Secession, Ltd.,Chicago, Ill. Photo:Good FurnitureMagazine 30, 2 (Feb.1928), p. 74.

Below:Figure1A "LivingRoomFireplace Group"fromthe "Expositionof Modern AmericanIndustrial and Decora-tive Arts,"MandelBrothersdepartmentstore, Chicago, Ill.,Oct. 1928. Photo: GoodFurnitureMagazine31,6 (Dec. 1928), p. 315.

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andpower,American onsumerswere offeredcheaper lternativesoruse at home.For exam-ple, RusselWright(seecat. no. 16),a leadingproponent of organicmodernism,declaredthe movementtowardmass-produced,nex-pensive, and informaldesign to be "a truerexpression of our Democratic ideals" thancustom-made,historical urniture,andimag-ined that hrough t Americansmight"developa more honest way of living."26 ndeed,afterWorldWarII, designersand manufacturersused materials ndtechnologiesdevelopedorhoned during wartime-molded fiberglassandplywood, synthetic glues, andplastics-to create tylishfurnishingshat were accessi-ble and affordable n a way that most earliermodernistdesignshad neverbeen. The workof George Nelson (see cat. no. 28), CharlesandRayEames seecat.no. 22), PaulMcCobb,and otherdesigners it the lifestylesof youngmarriedcouples who were busy educatingthemselves on the G.I. Bill andraising ami-lies in what would constitute the greatestpopulationsurge n Americanhistory.Afflu-ence had returned:most Americans, n fact,defined themselvesas "middleclass"regard-less of their incomelevel,and with thatiden-tity came a heighteneddesirefor domesticityandaffluence, ntensified n part by the inse-curitiesand hardshipof the war.27 he massmigrationout of cities and into new,subur-ban,single-family racthousing emphasizedthe need for new environments,new posses-sions,anda new start.In the post-World WarII period, then,modernistdesign-which emerged early inthecentury rom anurgeto remake heworldby providing good design to the masses-became the languageof Americancorporatepower and a symbol of populist prosperity.Harnessed irmlyto the Americandreamsofhomeownership, onsumerism, nddemocra-tic freedom, modernism'sutopian promise

Above:Figure2The BurlingtonZephyr of the ChicagoBurlingtonandQuincy Railroad,shown with a stream-lined Olson RugCompany truck, 1935.Hedrich-BlessingArchive, the ChicagoHistorical Society.

Below:Figure3EdwardH. Bennett(American,bornEngland;i874-i954);John Augur Holabird(American;1886-1945);and Hubert Burnham(American;1882-1968).TravelandTransportBuilding,"ACenturyof Progress nternationalExposition,"Chicago,Ill., i933.

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came closest to beingrealized not in Europebut in the United States; not at the handsof Gropius'smillion socialist workers, butthroughtheworkingsof the marketplace ndthe hopesand desiresof countlessconsumers.Ironically, erhaps,t wasonly amodern,con-sumersociety,aidedby technological dvancesand machinemanufacture, hat could makeWilliam Morris's nostalgic dream of gooddesign n everyhome evenbeginto come true.

Today, it is tempting to look back atthe modernist movement-itself no longer"modern," ut a closed historical pisode-asa failedexperiment,and to criticize ts archi-tecture anddesignas standardized nd mech-anized, impersonaland inhuman.We woulddo well to remember,however,that Morrisand his Arts and Craftscolleagueseveled ust

such criticisms at the Victorian styles theyrailedand reactedagainst.As we haveseen,modernism's eginningswere not impersonalat all,butsprang rom a deeplyhumanistgoalof integratingife and art ully,andmaking hepleasures f livingwithbeautiful bjectsavail-able to each andall,every day.To understandthe importanceof suchhopes is to graspthemoral and aesthetic attractionof modernistdesignsto theiroriginalusers,and restore tothose designs some of the human meaningthat time and circumstances ave akenaway.Afterall,as Morris himself said near the endof his life,worryingthat his idealistic chemehad borne no fruit, "If others can see it as Ihave seen it, then it may be called a visionrather han a dream."28

Figure4Skidmore,Owings &Merrill.The InlandSteelBuilding, Chicago,Ill., 1958.View ofinteriorcorner office.Hedrich-BlessingArchive, the ChicagoHistorical Society.

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Barter - Desiging for Democracy