Helen Dryden (1882–1972) was an American artist and successful industrial
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 ...
in the 1920s and 1930s. She was reportedly described by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' as being the highest-paid woman artist in the United States, though she lived in comparative poverty in later years.
Education
Dryden was born in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
and moved to
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
when she was seven years old to attend
Eden Hall. During her early childhood years Dryden showed unusual artistic ability, designing and selling clothes for paper dolls. Eventually she sold a set of her paper dolls and dresses to a newspaper for use in its fashion section. This in turn led to a position as illustrator for Anne Rittenhouse's fashion articles in the
Philadelphia Public Ledger
The ''Public Ledger'' was a daily newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published from March 25, 1836, to January 1942. Its motto was "Virtue Liberty and Independence". For a time, it was Philadelphia's most popular newspaper, but circulation de ...
and The
Philadelphia Press
''The Philadelphia Press'' (or ''The Press'') is a defunct newspaper that was published from August 1, 1857, to October 1, 1920.
The paper was founded by John Weiss Forney. Charles Emory Smith was editor and owned a stake in the paper from 1880 u ...
.
Dryden was largely self-trained, describing her works as "a combination of things I like, in the way I want to do them." Her artistic education consisted of four years of training in landscape painting under Hugh Breckinridge and one summer school session at the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...
. Deciding that she had no real interest in
landscape painting
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...
, Dryden focused her complete attention on
fashion design
Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates ...
and illustration.
Career
Fashion illustration
After moving to New York in 1909, Dryden spent a year trying to interest fashion magazines in her drawings. None, however, showed any interest in her work and many were harsh with criticism. Dryden was particularly disappointed in her rejection by ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
''. Less than a year later, however,
Condé Nast
Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.
The company's media ...
Publications assumed management of ''Vogue'' and set out to make changes. Upon seeing Dryden's drawings, they directed the fashion editor to contact her immediately. The result was a ''Vogue'' contract that led to a 13-year collaboration (1909–1922) during which she produced many fashion illustrations and magazine covers. Her "essentially romantic style produced some of the most appealing, yet fantastical images on ''Vogue'' covers, frequently depicting imagined rather than realistic representations of dress."
She also illustrated other Condé Nast titles, including ''Vanity Fair'' and ''House and Garden''.
Costume design
In addition to her prolific career as an illustrator, in 1914 Dryden launched a successful career as a
costume designer
A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...
. She designed scenery and costumes for the musical comedy ''Watch Your Step'', followed by designs for several other stage plays including ''
Clair de Lune'', the fanciful drama based loosely on a Victor Hugo romance. Although the play starred
Lionel and
Ethel Barrymore, Helen Dryden's costume designs were generally given equal credit for the play's success.
Industrial design
Following the 1925 Paris
, Dryden turned her attention to
industrial design, producing a number of designs for tableware, lamps, and other housewares, for the Revere Corporation. She had a highly paid job with the Dura Company until the
stock market crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
, at which point she was replaced by
George W. Walker. It seems Dryden never fully recovered from this blow. According to Christopher Gray, "The 1925 census recorded her living at 9 East 10th Street with her 25-year-old Philippine-born cook and butler, Ricardo Lampitok."
Dryden worked for
Studebaker from 1935 to 1938, reportedly earning $100,000 per year ($ in dollars ). Automotive designer
Raymond Loewy contracted with her to help him design Studebaker interiors.
Her work on the interior of the 1936
Studebaker Dictator and
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
that established Helen Dryden as an important twentieth-century industrial designer. The advertisements by the automaker proclaimed, "It's styled by Helen Dryden." Dryden designed the Studebaker President throughout, and the press marveled that a woman had attained this eminence in mechanical engineering. She was considered "one of the top industrial designers and one of the few women in the automotive field."
Dryden worked with Loewy through 1940.
By 1956 Dryden was again living in a $10-a-week hotel room paid for by the city's Welfare Department. At the time, she referred nostalgically to "her '$200-a-month' 10th Street apartment".
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dryden, Helen
1880s births
1972 deaths
American industrial designers
Fashion illustrators