American Modern was a distinct American

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

aesthetic formed in the period between 1925 and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. American Modern was created by a pioneering group of

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

s, among them were

Norman Bel Geddes Norman Bel Geddes (born Norman Melancton Geddes; April 27, 1893 – May 8, 1958) was an American theatrical and industrial designer. Early life Bel Geddes was born Norman Melancton Geddes in Adrian, Michigan and was raised in New Philadelp ...

Donald Deskey Donald Sidney Deskey (November 23, 1894 – April 29, 1989) was an American industrial designer. Biography Donald Sidney Deskey was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota. He studied architecture at the University of California, but did not follow th ...

Henry Dreyfuss Henry Dreyfuss (March 2, 1904 – October 5, 1972) was an American industrial design pioneer. Dreyfuss is known for designing some of the most iconic devices found in American homes and offices throughout the twentieth century, including the West ...

Paul T. Frankl Paul T. Frankl (October 14, 1886 – March 21, 1958), an Art Deco furniture designer and maker, architect, painter and writer from Vienna, Austria, was the son of a wealthy real estate speculator. Biography After Frankl completed his ar ...

William Lescaze William Edmond Lescaze, FAIA (March 27, 1896 – February 9, 1969), was a Swiss-born American architect, city planner and industrial designer. He is ranked among the pioneers of modernism in American architecture. Biography William Lescaze w ...

Raymond Loewy Raymond Loewy ( , ; November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by ''Time'' magazi ...

Gilbert Rohde Gilbert Rohde (1894–1944), whose career as a furniture and industrial designer helped to define American modernism during its first phase from the late 1920s to World War II, is best known today for inaugurating modern design at Herman Miller ...

Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish-American Architecture, architect known for his work with art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Eero ...

Walter Dorwin Teague Walter Dorwin Teague (December 18, 1883 – December 5, 1960) was an American industrial designer, architect, illustrator, graphic designer, writer, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Dean of Industrial Design", Teague pioneered in the ...

Kem Weber Karl Emanuel Martin "Kem" Weber (1889–1963) was an American furniture and industrial designer, architect, art director, and teacher who created several iconic designs of the 'Streamline' style. Early career Born in Berlin, Germany, Weber ...

and

Russel Wright Russel Wright (April 3, 1904 – December 21, 1976) was an American industrial designer. His best-selling ceramic dinnerware was credited with encouraging the general public to enjoy creative modern design at table with his many other ranges of fu ...

. This design sensibility impacted on the daily lives of ordinary Americans through an array of objects including furniture, glassware, ceramics, textiles, metalwork, household appliances, automobiles, airplanes and graphic arts. American Modern is distinguished by the absence of traditional ornament, the use of new technologies and materials, and the application of

mass-production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...

techniques to create affordable objects for the expanding

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

''American Modern'' dinnerware

''American Modern'' dinnerware was designed by

and was originally manufactured by Steubenville Pottery in

Steubenville, Ohio Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a 1 ...

. It is currently manufactured by Bauer Pottery Company of Los Angeles. The glaze colors of the line consist of coral, chartreuse, granite grey and seafoam. The dinnerware forms have distinctive curvilinear streamlined shapes. American Modern dinnerware was the most popular and identifiable china pattern ever sold, with over 250 million pieces sold between 1939 - 1959. Image:American Modern Coral.jpg, American Modern in Coral. Image:American Modern Chartreuse.jpg, American Modern in Chartreuse. Image:American Modern Granite.jpg, American Modern in Granite Grey. Image:American Modern Seafoam.jpg, American Modern in Seafoam.

Bibliography

* ''American Modern 1925-1940 - Design For A New Age'' by J. Stewart Johnson. (Harry Abrams, 2000) .

References

{{design-stub Modernism

''American Modern'' dinnerware

Bibliography

See also

References