American Modern

The American Art Deco is a general term for the stylistic particularities in early American industrial design. It can be classified chronologically from about 1920 to the end of the 1940s. Numerous impulses from Europe were absorbed: for example, from the Arts and Crafts movement, the art nouveau, the Wiener Werkstätte and also the Bauhaus.

But unlike their European counterparts – and in stark contrast to the elitist French art deco of the 1920s – the Americans focused above all on technical progress and mass suitability or mass production.

These aspects were defined with terms such as Streamline Design and Machine Age. Each and every object was designed: from aircraft down to pencil sharpeners.

Red vacuum cleaner with “President” lettering on the side and chrome-plated handle and skid feet.
James Murray Spangler, Vacuum cleaner “President”, ca. 1940, Inv. No. K01487, Photo: © Sascha Fuis Photographie, Cologne

Industrial designers of the first hour of art deco were Norman Bel Geddes, Henry Dreyfuss, Raymond Loewy and Walter Dorwin Teague. Howard F. Reichenbach also influenced the era with designs such as the iconic Blue Moon cocktail shaker, which he had designed for the Chase Brass & Copper Company. 

Tray with shaker and six tumblers. Material combination of chrome and cobalt-colored glass top of the cups.
Howard F. Reichenbach, Cocktail Shaker Set “Blue Moon”, 1923-1935, Inv. No. H01739, © Estate of Howard F. Reichenbach, Photo: Sascha Fuis Photographie, Cologne

Preferred materials and surfaces were chrome, glass, mirrored glass, and enamel. Their brilliance competing only with the radio casings made of Catalin, the “jewel among plastics”, which could be made to light up by the radios’ glowing tubes.

Front of the Musicbox divided into colored illuminated areas, in the middle control elements in red. The record player can be seen at the top.
Paul Max Fuller, Jukebox Wurlitzer 1100, 1948, Inv. No. K01390, © Estate of Paul Max Fuller, Photo: Sascha Fuis Photographie, Cologne