Norman Bel Geddes was one of the great visionaries of the twentieth century. An industrial designer, known best for his contribution to the Futurama exhibition at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, Bel Geddes experimented with [Read more…] about Biographer B. Alexandra Szerlip on Norman Bel Geddes’s life and legacy
Norman Bel Geddes
Proposed NEA, NEH funding cuts will directly impact Austin
Stephen Enniss, Director of the Harry Ransom Center, shared his thoughts about the proposed elmination of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in an opinion editorial in the Austin American-Statesman. Below is the piece that ran on March 10. [Read more…] about Proposed NEA, NEH funding cuts will directly impact Austin
Stage materials shine spotlight on centuries of Shakespeare
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” — As You Like It (Act II, Scene VII)
For four centuries, Shakespeare’s comedies, histories, and tragedies have held up a mirror to society, showing us our facility for both greatness and weakness. [Read more…] about Stage materials shine spotlight on centuries of Shakespeare
High Museum of Art’s “Dream Cars” exhibition features drawings, designs from Norman Bel Geddes collection
“We dream of cars that will float or fly, or run on energy from a laser beam, or travel close to the ground without wheels. Such research may border on the fantastic, but so did the idea of a carriage going about the country without a horse.” –The Ford Book of Styling, 1963
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta is currently hosting the exhibition Dream Cars through September 7, which includes items from the Ransom Center’s Norman Bel Geddes collection. The exhibition showcases the innovative and artistic design of rare vehicles from the early 1930s to 2010 and encompasses the evolution of the automobile from a horseless carriage to a sleek, highly functional speed machine. Dream Cars highlights designs and models from across Europe and the United States, including a blueprint, a photograph, and three drawings of Bel Geddes’s 1932 design, Motorcar No. 9.
The exhibition brings together 17 concept cars, including designs from Ferrari, Bugatti, General Motors, and Porsche. These vehicles are paired with conceptual drawings, patents, and scale models to demonstrate how imaginative designs and innovation changed the automobile from a basic, functional object to a symbol of limitless possibilities.
None of the vehicles and designs on display in this exhibition were ever intended for production. Rather, they represent the “dream” of future possibilities and highlight the talent and imagination of industrial designers.
Bel Geddes was an American theatrical and industrial designer who gained fame in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. The Motorcar No. 9 model demonstrates his expertise in aerodynamics and streamlining as a means to modernism. The Ransom Center’s extensive Norman Bel Geddes archive includes a model of Motorcar No. 9 among other papers, designs, and artifacts that span 50 years.
Related content:
Video: Curator of Norman Bel Geddes exhibition discusses influence of the industrial designer
Please click on the thumbnails below to view larger images.
Now open at the Wolfsonian: “I Have Seen The Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America”
The exhibition I Have Seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America is now open at the Wolfsonian at Florida International University in Miami Beach, Florida. Pulled mostly from the Ransom Center’s Bel Geddes archive, the exhibition originated in fall 2012 at the Ransom Center and was on view earlier this year at the Museum of the City of New York. Bringing together some 200 unique drawings, models, photographs, and films, this exhibition highlights Bel Geddes’s creativity and desire to transform American society through design.
Norman Bel Geddes (1893–1958) was an industrial and theatrical designer who gained fame in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s for his streamlined and futuristic innovations. His designs played a significant role in shaping America’s image as an innovative powerhouse and global leader into the future. One of his most famous undertakings was the unforgettable Futurama exhibition at the 1939–1940 New York World’s Fair.
I Have Seen the Future is on view at the Wolfsonian until September 28.
Image: Norman Bel Geddes, Motor Car No. 9 (without tail fin), ca. 1933.
Related content:
View the Norman Bel Geddes Designs America book
Curator of Norman Bel Geddes exhibition discusses influence of the industrial designer
Read an inside look at Bel Geddes’s design, Motorcar Number 9
Curator of Norman Bel Geddes exhibition discusses influence of the industrial designer
Donald Albrecht, exhibition organizer and curator of architecture and design at the Museum of the City of New York, discusses industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes’s influence on the American landscape. Albrecht—editor of Norman Bel Geddes Designs America (Abrams)—emphasizes the breadth of the Bel Geddes collection at the Ransom Center, which includes Bel Geddes’s plans and sketches of his futurist visions.
The exhibition Norman Bel Geddes Designs America, which was on view at the Ransom Center in fall 2012, opens at the Museum of the City of New York today. To celebrate this traveling exhibition, the Ransom Center is giving away a free “I Have Seen the Future” totebag to all Ransom Center visitors, while supplies last. The galleries are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.
