For this exercise I decided that being a visual artist, it was finally time to start using Pinterest. I made an account and tried to come to terms with the site. I made two boards of visual reference, one for 50s furniture, and one for fashion. I did find some very interesting images, and it was very useful for getting an appreciation for the overall aesthetic: I was able to draw some rough shapes that I thought exemplified the period. However I did find it a little frustrating in that it’s hard to verify if an image is actually from the 50s or just inspired by a “retro” look. There are of course many examples of modern popular culture that serve as a pastiche of the 1950s, from trends in womens’ fashion to the Fallout video game series. But in order to get a more authentic view of 50s imagery I decided to look for other forms of reference.
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Once again I went to my local library looking for reference material. I found it difficult to find books relating specifically to the 50s, but I found many books giving a general overview of different movements and styles that took place throughout the 50s and contextualising them in a broader remit. I looked at books dealing with several aspects of design, including architecture and interior design, and books on art movements like abstract expressionism and pop art. Two books in particular proved very interesting, History of Modern Design and Ireland, Design and Visual Culture: Negotiating Modernity, 1922-1992.
History of Modern Design went way back to 17th century France to explain the origin of modern design. The luxury furnishings demanded by the aristocratic class and the parallel increase in industrialisation led to the creation of a manufacturing industry that moved the overall sensibilities of design from individual need and taste to one attempting to create broader common principles intended for mass consumption. And so dawned the age of consumerism. One particularly garish quote stood out to me when a 19th century aristocrat said that her insistence on never wearing the same garment twice was helping to provide the impoverished silk workers with livelihood. The politics of inequality and exploitation is foundational to the relationship between production and consumption, particularly in the modern era.
While initial movements in mass production tried to emulate the extravagance of the opulent European elite, as with all movements there came a desire for reform. Moving through the ages of Gothic revival, Art Nouveau and others, there came an increasing desire to marry the aesthetics of conventional design and mechanical industrialisation. One leading figure in the movement, German designer Hermann Muthesius, believed in the harmony of beauty and utility. A sort of utilitarianism took hold of the manufacturing sector, exemplified by Henry Ford’s application of his assembly line, emphasising uniformity, standardisation, and efficiency over fine-craftsmanship and luxury. Crucially it contributed to the appreciation of mechanisation and mass-production in all strata of contemporary society. Ford’s assembly lines differed significantly from the ethos of the crafts workshops of the day, which believed in creating a sense of cooperation and creativity amongst their workers. The first home appliances intended for mass consumption were given industrial-looking, standardized forms and pearly white paint jobs evoking hygiene; factories and laboratories.
Following the end of World War II, industrial design took strong hold in Western nations, led by the US amid strong economic recovery and reconstruction. The 50s saw arguably the most attainable vision of the American dream, with real wages steadily climbing towards its all time peak and the creation of a new suburban middle class. A moral movement, new humanism, attempted to balance individualism with social responsibility. What appeared to be an unrelenting optimism, and a fascination with the Jet Age, aerodynamic forms and futurism embedded itself in 1950s design aesthetic. Consumer culture and the birth of the television age sought to equate materialism with justice, freedom, and upward class mobility.
The era was not without its critics. Various sub-cultures grew in popularity including comic-books, film-noir, rock ‘n’ roll. Many poets, artists and writers dismissed the dominant materialistic cultural forces as kitsch, lacking in individual freedom or expression, and failing to acknowledge the woes of the exploited working classes. The overbearing puritanical world view and spick-and-span aesthetic of the 1950s were the catalyst needed to form the hippie movement and the political, civil and sexual revolutions of the 1960s.
The specific design qualities of the 50s were remarkably varied, and fast changing. This was in part due to the changes in consumer and producer tendencies. The establishment of an ascendant middle class and wide pool of new consumers with access to credit spending prompted companies to mark older products as obsolete to encourage more frequent purchasing cycles. This phenomena led to “throwaway culture”, and one of rapid consumption of frequently updated products with fast changing visual designs. Part of what made the 50s seem so new by comparison to previous decades was the retooling of war-time materials for civilian consumption. There was a strong drive to incorporate new military materials into residential homes, including various plastics, metals and fibreglass. In order to make these materials seem less intimidating there was often a push to mould them into more organic shapes, leading to the distinctive curves and round forms that so defined the era.
I want to close with this quote from the book that I think sums up my mixed feelings towards the 50s from a visual and general perspective:
On one hand, mass design may be seen as a form of exploitation manipulated as it were from above and masking the desire for corporate profit and power under the banner of freedom of choice and the democratization of luxury, heavily dependant upon advertising and product symbolism. . . . The elements of resistance, escape, self-expression, and difference within this popular culture emerges through products, fashion, and also through the medium of popular music, particularly rock ‘n’ roll with its roots in Afro-American culture and its rebellious challenge to conventional behavior and authority. . . . Thus popular culture reveals a paradox, for its expressions may be viewed both as a form of resistance to authority on the one hand and of acceptance of the ephemeral criteria of mass appeal on the other. In either case, however, the status of the commodity and the capitalist system that creates and distributes it remains paramount, for even resistance most often takes the form of consumption rather than threatening social or political action.
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Although the US was undoubtedly the leader in the various aesthetic and industrial movements in the 1950s, I wanted to spend some time looking at my home country, Ireland, in the context of the 50s.
In Ireland: Design and Culture, I was very interested in one chapter in particular. (De)constructing the Tourist Gaze: Dutch Influences and Aer Lingus Tourism Posters, 1950-1960. It describes Ireland in the 50s in terms of design as severely lacking expertise, identifying this fact with protectionist economic policies, limited industrial production and inadequacies in the Irish art and design educational system. There was an initiative to employ Dutch designers, respected for their professionalism, skill and influence in contemporary European graphic design. Many of the commissioned artists were trained Bauhaus graduates, reflecting strong modernist trends and colourful, geometric designs.
One artist especially caught my eye. Guus Melai (http://www.artnet.com/artists/guus-melai/) produced many beautiful travel posters celebrating Ireland. Taking residence in County Wicklow, he spent many years travelling the country extensively, and his love for his adoptive home is evident in his work. I very much enjoy his use of strong angles and bright colours. In coordination with several prominent politicians, businessmen and artists, he helped to show a vision of Ireland appealing for being a beautiful geographic region where “time had stood still”, escaping many signifiers of modernity, primarily industrialisation and war-time conflict.
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In thinking about my personal feelings towards the look and feel of the 1950s, I’m largely ambivalent. I enjoy the aesthetic quirks, the curves, the Space-Age-y vibes of all the appliances. I find little embellishments like designing the rear of a Cadillac to look like the thrusters of a space shuttle to be slightly adorable. I love film-noir, and beatniks, and Little Richard. But I’m disturbed by what appeared to be an absense of class consciousness. Pervasive and institutionalised racism and sexism. Censorship. An extreme shift towards materialism and consumerism. I wanted to spend some time celebrating the odd-ones-out of the era, so I decided to continue my research focusing on comic books and film.
References:
Raizman, David. History of Modern Design. China: Laurence King Publishing, 2003.
King, Linda and Sisson, Elaine. Ireland, Design and Visual Culture: Negotiating Modernity 1922-1992. Ireland: Cork University Press, 2011.
Woodham, Jonathon M. Twentieth-Century Design. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Honnef, Klaus. Pop Art. Hong Kong: Taschen, 2004.
Anfam, David. Abstract Expressionism. Italy: Royal Academy of Arts, 2017.
Josh Robbins OCA Learning Log 