Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15289

During the years of the Great Depression in America, modernist designers developed products and lifestyle concepts intended for middle-class—not elite—consumers. In this remarkable book, Kristina Wilson coins the term “livable modernism” to describe this school of design.

Livable modernism combined International Style functional efficiency and sophistication with a respect for consumers’ desires for physical and psychological comfort. Wilson offers a new view of many popular designs for living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms of the 1930s and investigates the remarkable marketing savvy of the furniture and decorative arts companies of the day. As the first study of the advertising and retailing of modern design during the Depression years, Livable Modernism also features an extensive array of vintage advertisements from such popular magazines as House Beautiful and Ladies’ Home Journal.

Engagingly written, Livable Modernism is an essential book for anyone interested in modern furniture and decorative arts. The author demonstrates that the work of these designers—including Russel Wright, Donald Deskey, and Gilbert Rohde—paved the way for Charles and Ray Eames and other post-World War II designers, and that the importance of their philosophies, innovations, and influence has until now been underappreciated.

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

Yale University Press

Print publication date September 2004 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780300104752

EISBN 9780300232530

Illustrations 112 Illus.

Print Status in print

Publisher (in print)

WorldCat

Google Books

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List of illustrations

Guy and Elisabeth Wilson Residence, R. M. Schindler architect, Los Angeles, California
Arthur and Hope Vernon Residence, Kingston, Rhode Island
Mr Armchair
État Cabinet
Cocktail Service
Model room in Wallace Nutting Final Edition Furniture Catalogue
Oriole stove
Sink
House of Tomorrow, Century of Progress International Exposition, Chicago World's Fair
Dining Room, House of Tomorrow, Century of Progress
House of Tomorrow, Century of Progress
Living Room, House of Tomorrow, Century of Progress
Bedroom, House of Tomorrow, Century of Progress
Cartoon, in The Saturday Evening Post
First-floor plan, House of Tomorrow
Second-floor plan, House of Tomorrow
Floor plan, Design for Living House, Century of Progress
Living-dining room, Design for Living House, Century of Progress
American Modern living rooom furniture
Rendering of American Modern trestle shelves
Herman Miller Furniture Company Showroom, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Herman Miller Furniture Company Showroom, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Bookcase (No. 3448)
Desk (No. 3425)
Bookcase (No. 3432)
Sample wall groupings from the East India Laurel Series in Catalog and Sales Guide
Armchair, "American Modern" Line
Advertisement for Howell Company, In Home Furnishing Arts, 105
Lounge chair (No. 434-1)
Lounge Chair (No. 360-1)
Light lounge
Rendering of American Modern display
Rendering of American Modern secretary book case
A History of Modern Furniture from Prehistoric Times to the Post War Era by the Herman Miller Furniture Company, 2
Old Point comfort lounge chair
Lounge chair (No. LC-52-A)
Rendering of a living room with Howell Company furniture, in Home Furnishing Arts, 29
Armchair (No. C-35-E)
Cigarette Box
Cigarette cases
Diplomat Coffee Service
Rocking chair (No. 377)
Advertisement for Congoleum Rugs
First-floor plan, the Sherwood
Smartset Dining Suite
Dining Suite
Dinette (T-68-B Table, C-48-B and C-49-B Chairs)
Floor plan for a country house
Convertible dining table
Utility chest
Convertible dining table
Period table setting
Modernist table setting, in
Modernist table setting
Modernist table setting
Plume candlestick
Pristine table architecture candleholders
Table Architecture, Pristine Line
Diagram for table setting without servants
Pair of water goblets, club pattern (Stem no. 4020)
Water goblet, fern pattern (Stem no. 4020)
Sherbet glass, Queen Anne pattern (Stem no. 4020)
Sherbet glass, comet pattern (Stem no. 4020)
New era cocktail glass
Goblet, "Malmaison" Pattern
Advertisement for Wear-Ever aluminum
Kensington tablewares
Platter
Stratford Bowl
Advertisement for Chase Brass & Copper Company
Buffet server
Canapé Plate
Wine cooler
Cocktail Set
Punch bowl with ladle (without lid)
Cocktail set
Relish rosette
Bun warmer
Tidbit trays
Advertisement for Chase Brass & Copper Company
Super Supper
Vanity and Ottoman
Floor plan for a modern house
Floor plan, masonite house
Master bedroom, Florida tropical home
Rendering of a bedroom with furniture by the Widdicomb Furniture Company
American Modern bedroom suite
American Modern bedroom furniture
American Modern bedroom furniture
Nursery furniture
Advertisement for Simmons Company
Advertisement for Simmons Company, back cover
Advertisement for Simmons Company, back cover
Advertisement for Simmons Company
Trouble in Paradise, film still
Rendering of a bedroom with furniture by the Widdicomb Furniture Company
Rendering of a bedroom with furniture by the Herman Miller Furniture Company
Zephyr electric clock
Electric clock (No. 4093)
Electric clock (No. 4081A)
Advertisement for Big Ben alarm clock
Big Ben alarm clock and box
Lady's Room, Crystal House, Century of Progress
Bedroom, design for Living House, Century of Progress
Vanity table (No. 3770)
Vanity table
Vanity table and mirror (No. 16085)
Vanity table (No. 171)
Vanity table (No. 3770) in Herman Miller Furniture Company Showroom
Advertisement for Hathaway's Furniture Store
Possessed (MGM), film still
Vanity table

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Contents

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

Contents

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.001

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15290

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

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Director’s Foreword

Jock Reynolds

In 1983, the Yale University Art Gallery mounted the pioneering exhibition on 1920s American modern decorative arts, At Home in Manhattan, curated by Karen Davies, then a graduate student in the Department of the History of Art. At Home in Manhattan recovered a vibrant early world in...

Author

Jock Reynolds

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15291

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Acknowledgments

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

Acknowledgments

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15292

Introduction

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

This book examines modernist designs manufactured in America and marketed to middle-class homes during the decade of the 1930s. It studies both individual objects and the publicity that surrounded them, delving into the printed...

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.3-22

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.004

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15293

Chapter subject tags:Modernism (Art)--United StatesInterior decorationDepressions--1929Material culture--United StatesAesthetics

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1. Cozy Modernism for the Living Room

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

A cartoon from the mid-1930s reveals ambivalence about modernist furniture in the living room (fig. 1.1). I found the cartoon in the archives at Herman Miller, Inc., in Zeeland, Michigan. While...

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.25-56

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.005

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15294

Chapter subject tags:Modernism (Art)--United StatesFurniture designInterior decorationMinimal designLiving rooms

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2. Modern Modes of Dining

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

A 1936 advertisement for Congoleum Rugs—featuring a smiling couple seated at their dinner table, the husband poised to carve their main dish of ham—captures the mixture of modernist efficiency and formal traditions that appeared in many popular images of Depression-era dining rooms (fig....

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.59-98

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.006

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15295

Chapter subject tags:Modernism (Art)--United StatesFurniture designInterior decorationDining roomsMinimal design

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3. Privacy and Self-Expression in the Bedroom

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

Gilbert Rohde’s vanity table and ottoman, manufactured by Herman Miller from 1933 to 1937, express many of the contradictory principles that informed livable modernist bedroom designs of the 1930s (fig. 3.1). On the one hand, the set contributes to an atmosphere of respite and retreat that many decorators and magazine writers believed the bedroom should...

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.101-132

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.007

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15296

Chapter subject tags:Modernism (Art)--United StatesFurniture designInterior decorationBedroomsMinimal design

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Conclusion: The Legacy of Livable Modernism

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

The designers and manufacturers studied in this book were the first in the United States to attempt to cultivate a broad, middle-class consumer audience for modernist design. To do so, they actively negotiated between functionalist, socially progressive ideals, which had defined such European modernist schools as the Bauhaus and the...

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.134-135

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.008

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15297

Chapter subject tags:Modernism (Art)--United StatesInterior decorationDepressions--1929Furniture designMinimal design

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Abbreviations

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

Periodical Publications

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.009

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15298

Bibliography

Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

Bibliography

Author

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00076.010

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15299

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.