For this assignment, I chose an American industrial designer by the name of Donald Deskey, who was born on November 23, 1894 in Blue Earth, Minnesota. As a student, Deskey attended three different institutions. He went to the University of California at Berkeley, and he also was a student at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. After finishing up at these three schools, Deskey would go on to study in Paris, France from 1920-1922. Once he was finished with his studies, he went on to serve as the director of the art department at Juanita College, located in Huntington, Pennsylvania. From there, he would go on to become the director of the industrial design department at New York University. While working at this university, his works began to be recognized across the world.

Deskey’s work was influenced by the European art deco styles. He designed a number of different interiors including the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. He also worked in women’s fashion, which played a huge role in the time period he worked in as women weren’t really powerful and did not have many rights. Most of his works are very modern looking, and could be seen in today’s design world.

 

Bibliography

Friedman, Marilyn F. “Defining Modernism at the American Designers’ Gallery, New York.” Studies in the Decorative Arts, vol. 14, no. 2, 2007, pp. 79–116, https://doi.org/10.1086/652880. Accessed 5 Apr. 2022.

Smiley, David. “Making the Modified Modern.” Perspecta, vol. 32, 2001, pp. 39–54, https://doi.org/10.2307/1567281. Accessed 5 Apr. 2022.

Cogdell, Christina. “Products or Bodies? Streamline Design and Eugenics as Applied Biology.” Design Issues, vol. 19, no. 1, 2003, pp. 36–53, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1512053. Accessed 5 Apr. 2022.