Raymond Loewy Archive 2251
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Raymond Loewy archive 2251 This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 14, 2021. Description is written in: English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard Manuscripts and Archives PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library Raymond Loewy archive 2251 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Biographical Note .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Scope and Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 7 Related Materials ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Controlled Access Headings .......................................................................................................................... 9 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 9 General office .............................................................................................................................................. 9 New York correspondence and subject files ............................................................................................ 9 Financial records ..................................................................................................................................... 32 Paris (CEI) files ...................................................................................................................................... 37 Public relations .......................................................................................................................................... 40 Client/project files ................................................................................................................................... 41 Scrapbooks .............................................................................................................................................. 71 Publicity clippings ................................................................................................................................ 112 Speeches ................................................................................................................................................ 129 Department files .................................................................................................................................... 132 Personal papers ........................................................................................................................................ 135 Correspondence and subject files ......................................................................................................... 136 Financial papers .................................................................................................................................... 145 Books ..................................................................................................................................................... 147 Scrapbooks ............................................................................................................................................ 149 Clippings ............................................................................................................................................... 150 - Page 2 - Raymond Loewy archive 2251 Summary Information Repository: Manuscripts and Archives Creator: Loewy, Raymond, 1893-1986 Title: Raymond Loewy archive ID: 2251 Date [inclusive]: 1903-1982 Physical Description: 40.5 Linear Feet Language of the English, French, German Material: Abstract: Raymond Loewy (1893–1986) was one of the most well know industrial designers during the middle decades of the twentieth century. This collections consist of the Loewy's personal papers, business records, and materials generated and maintained by Loewy's New York Public Relations Department. ^ Return to Table of Contents Biographical Note Raymond Loewy (1893–1986) was one of the most well know industrial designers during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Born in Paris on November 5, 1893, he was the third son of Maximillian Loewy (1860-1919) and Marie Labalme Loewy (1867-1919) and grew up in a bourgeois household. As a boy, he developed an interest in transportation and machines. At age seventeen, Loewy enrolled in a pre-engineering school, an experience that prepared him for the technical aspects of an industrial design career. After distinguished service in World War I, Loewy immigrated to the United States in 1919, hoping to find work at General Electric. He settled in New York City and for the next decade had a varied career as a fashion illustrator, window dresser, and costume designer, but primarily as a commercial artist, specifically an advertising illustrator. His clients included Saks Fifth Avenue, Bonwit Teller, the White Star Line, and Renault, and his images appeared in Harper's Bazaar, and Vogue. Advertising illustration made Loewy a well-paid professional, but his real interest was in industrial design. In 1929 Loewy received his first significant product design commission from Sigmund Gestetner (1897-1956), an Englishman who was seeking to modernize the look of his mimeograph machine. Loewy encased the machine's working parts inside a sleek, modern-looking shell and sales were dramatically increased. This project launched Loewy on his new career of industrial design. During the early 1930s, - Page 3- Raymond Loewy archive 2251 Loewy also worked for Westinghouse and the Hupp Motor Company, where he designed the prize- winning Hupmobile. His major breakthrough came in 1934 when he received the opportunity to redesign the Sears Coldspot refrigerator, and signed a contract with the Pennsylvania Railroad that launched a two-decade relationship with the "Standard Railroad of the World." Loewy's work for the Pennsy did much to establish his reputation as the leading figure in the century's most noteworthy American design style: streamlining. His streamlined locomotives and passenger car interiors came to symbolize machine age modernism, a look that defined his body of work and industrial design during the interwar years. His interiors, designed for ships of the Panama Lines, Lord & Taylor department stores, and the Missouri Pacific Eagle railcar were stylish and comfortable. Loewy's "Transportation of Tomorrow" exhibit at the Chrysler Motors Pavilion at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair included a streamlined taxi, liner, car and trucks, as well as a rocket ship that would travel between New York and London. Loewy reached his peak in the post-war decades when his office focused on the American consumer and the suburbs. His company expanded to its greatest dimensions at mid-century. It had hundreds of contracts with a wide array of consumer product companies for which Loewy and his associates designed home appliances, bottles, kitchen utensils, living room furniture, dinette sets, dishware, silverware, food and beverage packaging, radios, television, and stereo systems. By this time the Loewy firm employed a large staff of designers, but it was the Raymond Loewy name that attracted clients. During this period Loewy's partner William Snaith (1908-1974) and the firm's in-house architects designed shopping centers, department stores, hotels, and supermarkets. Loewy opened his first international office in London in the mid-1930s. The firm designed petrol pumps and scales for the Avery Hardoll Company and automobiles for the Rootes group, and various packaging and appliances The London office was closed in 1939 due to World War II, but was reopened in 1947. He formed Compagnie de l'Esthétique Industrielle (CEI), in Paris, in 1952. CEI, a separate operation from the New York office, had been established to bring American-style industrial design to Europe. The office produced designs such as the Elna sewing machine, Le Creuset cookware, the Concorde for Air France, and various projects for Shell (such as corporate identity, gas attendant uniforms, and gas stations). Transportation, particularly automobiles, was always one of Loewy's passions. After his design of the Hupmobile in the early 1930s, Loewy began work for Studebaker in 1936. His first project for Studebaker was the re-styling of the body of the 1938 President. A year later, the Champion was introduced, and both models boosted the company's image. The postwar Studebakers, particularly the 1947 Champion Regal Deluxe and the 1953 Regal Starlight coupe, had a strong influence on automotive design. Loewy's innovative design of the Avanti in 1962 was widely acclaimed. Loewy's firm worked on a number of projects for the public sector, including habitability studies for the Navy, and trademark and identity programs for the Coast Guard, the Post Office, and other federal agencies. In 1962, Loewy redesigned Air Force One for President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), changing the lettering and color scheme on the exterior, and redesigning