Raymond Loewy

Raymond Loewy standing on one of his designs, the Pennsylvania Railroad's S1 steam locomotive.

Raymond Fernand Loewy (5 November 1893 – 14 July 1986) was one of the best known industrial designers of the 20th century. Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States where he influenced countless aspects of North American culture. Among his many iconic contributions to modern life were the Shell logo, the Greyhound bus, the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 and S-1 locomotives, the Lucky Strike package, Coldspot refrigerators, the Studebaker Avanti and the Air Force One livery. His career spanned seven decades.

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Life and work

Loewy was born in Paris in 1893, the son of Maximilian Loewy, a Viennese journalist, and Marie Labalme. An early accomplishment was the design of a successful model aircraft which then won the James Gordon Bennett Cup in 1908. By the following year he was selling the plane, named the Ayrel. He served in the French Army during World War I, attaining the rank of captain. Loewy was wounded in combat and received the Croix de Guerre. He boarded a ship to America in 1919, with only his French officer's uniform and fifty dollars in his pocket.

Early work

In Loewy's early years in the U.S., he lived in New York and found work as a window designer for department stores, including Macy's, Wanamaker's and Saks in addition to working as a fashion illustrator for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. In 1929 he received his first industrial design commission to modernize the appearance of a duplicating machine by Gestetner. Further commissions followed, including work for Westinghouse, the Hupp Motor Company (the Hupmobile styling), and styling the Coldspot refrigerator[1] for Sears-Roebuck. It was this product that established his reputation as an industrial designer. His design firm opened a London office in the mid 1930s. It still operates.[2]

Pennsylvania Railroad

In 1937 Loewy established a relationship with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and his most notable designs for the firm were their passenger locomotives. He designed a streamlined shroud for K4s Pacific #3768 to haul the newly redesigned 1938 Broadway Limited (also by Loewy). He followed by styling the experimental S1 locomotive, as well as the T1 class. Later, at the PRR's request, he restyled Baldwin's diesels with a distinctive "sharknose" reminiscent of the T1. While he did not design the famous GG1 electric locomotives, he improved its appearance by recommending welded construction, rather than riveted, and a pinstriped paint scheme to highlight its smooth contours.

In addition to locomotive design, Loewy's studios performed many kinds of design work for the Pennsylvania Railroad including stations, passenger car interiors and advertising materials. By 1949, Loewy employed 143 designers, architects and draftsmen. His business partners were A. Baker Barnhart, William Snaith and John Breen.[3]

Studebaker

Raymond Loewy's 1930s era Studebaker logo

Loewy had a long and fruitful relationship with the American car maker Studebaker. Studebaker first retained Loewy and Associates and Helen Dryden as design consultants in 1936[4]:[p.247] and in 1939 Loewy began work with the principal designer Virgil M Exner.[4][5] Their designs first began appearing on late-1930s Studebakers. Loewy also designed a new logo which replaced the "turning wheel" which had been the trademark since 1912.[4]

During World War II, American government restrictions on in-house design departments at Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler prevented official work on civilian automobiles. Because Loewy's firm was independent of the fourth-largest automobile producer in America, no such restrictions applied. This permitted Studebaker to launch the first all-new postwar automobile in 1947, two years ahead of the "Big Three". His team developed an advanced design featuring flush front fenders and clean rearward lines. They also created the Starlight body which featured a rear window system wrapping 180 degrees around the rear seat.

1953 Studebaker Commander Starlight coupe

In addition to the iconic bullet-nosed Studebakers of 1950 and 1951, the team created the 1953 Studebaker line, highlighted by the Starliner and Starlight coupes (publicly credited to Loewy, they were actually the work Virgil Exner[6]). The Starlight has consistently ranked as one of the best-designed cars of the 1950s in lists compiled since by Collectible Automobile, Car and Driver, and Motor Trend. At the time, however, the Starlight was ridiculed as bizarre (very similar from front or back). The '53 Starliner, recognized today as "one of the most beautiful cars ever made",[7] was radical in appearance, as radical in its way as the 1934 Airflow. However, it was beset by production problems.[7] The 1953 Studebakers were actually designed by Robert Bourke, member of the Loewy's studio but working permanently for Studebaker.

To brand the new line, Loewy also modernized Studebaker's logo again by applying the "Lazy S" element. His final commission of the 1950s for Studebaker was the transformation of the Starlight and Starliner coupes into the Hawk series for the 1956 model year.

Avanti

Concept sketch of the 1963 Avanti by Loewy

In the spring of 1961, Loewy was called back to Studebaker by the company's new president, Sherwood Egbert, to design the Avanti. Egbert hired him to help energize Studebaker's soon-to-be-released line of 1963 passenger cars to attract younger buyers.

Despite the short 40-day schedule allowed to produce a finished design and scale model, Loewy agreed to take the job. He recruited a team consisting of experienced designers including former Loewy employees John Ebstein, Bob Andrews, and Tom Kellogg, a young student from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The team was sequestered in a house leased for the purpose in Palm Springs, California. Each team member had a role: Andrews and Kellogg handled sketching, Ebstein oversaw the project, and Loewy was the creative director and offered advice.

1963 Studebaker Avanti in a non-standard blue color and wheels

The Avanti became an instant classic when it hit the market and has many devotees today; others consider its front end styling peculiar. Versions have been produced in limited quantities over the years by a succession of small independent companies, though never with real commercial success.

Death and legacy

Raymond Loewy became a U.S. citizen in 1938. Loewy retired in 1980 and returned to his native France. Loewy died in his Monte Carlo residence in 1986 at the age of 93. He was survived by his second wife Viola and their daughter Laurence. In 1992 Viola Loewy and British American Tobacco established the Raymond Loewy Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. The foundation was established to promote the discipline of industrial design internationally and preserve the memory of Raymond Loewy. An annual award of 50,000 Euros is granted to outstanding designers in recognition of their lifetime achievements. Recent grantees include Phillippe Starck and Dieter Rams. In 1998 Laurence Loewy established Loewy Design in Atlanta, Georgia to manage her father's continued interests in the United States. Laurence passed away October 15, 2008 and is survived by her husband David Hagerman and their son Jacque Loewy. David Hagerman continues to manage Loewy Design and the Loewy Estate, which includes Laurence Loewy's vision for the establishment of a Raymond Loewy Museum of Industrial Design.

Loewy designs

Following is a list of Loewy designs presented chronologically.

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

Union News restaurants coffee shop, at the TWA Flight Center, Idlewild
Le Creuset French Ovens

1960s

USCG Racing Stripe logo (1964)

1970s

Year or model not given

Publications

References

  1. ↑ Coldspot Refrigerator
  2. ↑ Loewy Group marketing agency
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Up from the Egg, TIME Magazine, October 31, 1949
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Hendry, Maurice M. Studebaker: One can do a lot of remembering in South Bend. New Albany: Automobile Quarterly. pp. 228–275. Vol X, 3rd Q, 1972. 
  5. ↑ Setright, L.J.K., "Loewy: When styling became industrial design", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, p.1211.
  6. ↑ Ludvigsen, Karl, "Studebaker: Money--the Root of all Evil", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 19, p.2227.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ludvigsen, p.2227.
  8. ↑ "Hughes' Stratoliner". Planeboats.com. http://planeboats.com/Other%20Pages/Plane%20Boat%20Information/hughes.html. Retrieved 2009-10-25. 
  9. ↑ [1]
  10. ↑ DF-2000 line of modern furniture that combined the feel of home and office, Raymond Loewy DF-2000 cabinet
  11. ↑ American Treasures of the Library of Congress, Design drawing for Exxon logo by Raymond Loewy
  12. ↑ "SPAR". Raymond Loewy Foundation. http://www.raymondloewyfoundation.com/de/raymond-loewy/loewys-arbeiten/spar.html. Retrieved 2009-10-25. 

External links