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NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. ® UMI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “I AM NOT A DECORATOR”: FLORENCE KNOLL, THE KNOLL PLANNING UNIT, AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN OFFICE by Bobbye Tigerman A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Early American Culture Spring 2005 Copyright 2005 Bobbye Tigerman All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1426017 Copyright 2005 by Tigerman, Bobbye All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 1426017 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “I AM NOT A DECORATOR”: FLORENCE KNOLL, THE KNOLL PLANNING UNIT, AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN OFFICE by Bobbye Tigerman Approved: Behiar<rL. Herman, Ph.D. Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: Brock W. Jobe, Professor in char is on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: J. Ritchie Garrison, Ph.D. Director of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture Approved: Conride-M. Gempesaw II, Ph.D. Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Science Approved: Conrado II, Ph.D. Vice-Provost for Academic and International Programs Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “I am not a decorator,” she said emphatically. “The only place I decorate is my own house.” - Florence Knoll Bassett Photo courtesy Knoll Archives Quotation from Virginia Lee Warren, “Woman Who Led an Office Revolution Rules an Empire of Modem Design,” The New York Times, 1 September 1964, p. 40. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisers Bernard Herman and Brock Jobe for their unflagging support, gentle encouragement, comment-laden drafts, and thoughtful responses to my dozens of questions over the past year. I am grateful to the many designers who shared their memories of Florence Knoll and the Planning Unit with me. Jens Risom helped me to understand the Knoll company before Florence Knoll arrived in 1943. Bill Shea, Jeff Osbome, and Dick Schultz shared insights about the Knoll firm. As a long-serving Planning Unit designer, Vincent Cafiero answered my questions about several specific projects and the trajectory of the Planning Unit as a whole. And finally, I owe the greatest thanks to Allan Denenberg, former Planning Unit designer, who welcomed me into his home, enthusiastically fielded my frequent queries, and helped me to understand the spirit of the time and the guiding ideas of the Planning Unit. I met Cranbrook Archives Director Mark Coir early on, and his encouragement impelled me to take on the project. Cranbrook archivist Leslie Edwards found dozens of documents relating to Florence Knoll’s time at Cranbrook and subsequent years in New York, London and Chicago. Deputy Registrar John Carter provided the student file of Florence Schust at Columbia University and Michelle Goga shared Florence Knoll’s student information at the Illinois Institute of Technology. At the Winterthur library, Cate iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Cooney always eagerly showed me the latest acquisitions relating to modem design, and Dot Wiggins kindly and efficiently found the interlibrary loan materials I needed. I am indebted to many archivists who made their holdings accessible and arranged for photographic reproductions and permissions. They include Wendy Hurlock Baker and Judy Throm at the Archives of American Art, Gretchen Reiners and Chris Giampietro at the Knoll Archives in New York, Bill Shea at the Knoll Archives in East Greenville, Roberta Frey Gilboe at the Cranbrook Art Museum, Leslie Edwards at the Cranbrook Archives, David Lombard at the CBS Photo Archives, and Julie Marquart of Marquart Architectural Photography. Allan Denenberg, Pat Kirkham and my Winterthur classmate Rachel Delphia read drafts of the thesis and provided invaluable comments. I would finally like to thank two grant-making organizations that allowed my ambition, rather than my budget, to be the limit of my research. A grant from the Decorative Arts Trust allowed me to visit the Florence Knoll Bassett Papers at the Archives of American Art in Washington, D.C. and the Knoll Archives in New York and East Greenville, Pennsylvania. The Society of Winterthur Fellows Professional Development Grant covered image permissions and production costs of the thesis. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT................................................................................................................. x Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Writing Women into Design History ............................................................ 9 Florence Knoll ................................................................................................. 20 Founding the Planning Unit ............................................................................ 33 The Planning Unit: A Profile ........................................................................... 38 The Interior Design Paste-Up and the Clothing of Modem Architecture... 43 The Knoll Desk as an Index of Office Hierarchy and Modernity ................ 47 The Knoll Look ................................................................................................ 54 CBS: A Total Work of Art............................................................................. 68 The End of the Planning Unit ......................................................................... 72 Conclusion: The Rise of Florence Knoll ........................................................ 74 APPENDIX: LIST OF KNOLL PLANNING UNIT PROJECTS.......................... 78 Proj ects from contemporary periodicals ........................................................ 78 Projects from “Knoll Planning Unit,” list, n.d., Knoll Archives ................. 84 Projects from “Knoll Planning Unit,” brochure, n.d., Knoll Archives 88 FIGURES...................................................................................................................... 89 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................ 123 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1. Florence Knoll, n.d., Courtesy Knoll Archives .................................. 89 Fig. 2. Design for a Model House in Michigan, Florence Schust, c. 1932-34, Copyright Cranbrook Archives, #5428-6..................... 90 Fig. 3. A three dimensional paste-up of an evening dress, designed by Loja Saarinen for Florence Knoll Bassett, 1935, Florence Knoll Bassett Papers, 1932-2000, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution ........................ 91 Fig. 4. “View from Garden,” Design for a House, Florence Schust, 1939, Copyright Cranbrook Archives #5467-3 ............................... 92 Fig. 5. Armchair, designed 1945, for the Rockefeller Family Offices, Collection of Cranbrook Art Museum ............................................... 93 Fig. 6. Nelson Rockefeller office by Knoll Planning Unit, 1946, Florence Knoll Bassett Papers, 1932-2000, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution ......................... 94 Fig. 7. Schematic plan of Knoll Planning Unit office, c. 1956-57 .............. 95 Fig. 8. Knoll Planning Unit entrance, 575 Madison Avenue, New York, n.d., Courtesy Knoll Archives ....................................... 96 Fig. 9. Knoll Planning Unit fabric storage, 575 Madison Avenue, New York, n.d., Courtesy Knoll Archives ....................................... 97 Fig. 10. Desks for Knoll Planning Unit designers, 575 Madison Avenue, New York, n.d., Courtesy Knoll Archives ....................................... 98 Fig. 11. “Outline of Services Available,” Knoll Planning Unit, n.d., Courtesy Knoll Archives .................................................................... 99 vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Fig.