60 RASSEGNA
NORMAN BEL GEDDES 1893-1958
Vittorio Gregotti (editor)
[Bel Geddes, Norman] Gregotti, Vittorio: 60 RASSEGNA [NORMAN BEL GEDDES 1893-1958]. Bologna: Editrice C.I.P.I.A. s.r.l. , 1994. First edition. Text in English. A fine softcover book with stiff, french-folded wrappers. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print.
9 x 12 softcover book with 72 pages devoted to the industrial design work of Norman Bel Geddes. many previously unpublished examples from the Bel Geddes archives at the HRC in Austin Texas. My highest recommendation. Contents:
- Editorial by Vittorio Gregotti
- Norman Bel Geddes: A Portrait by Jeffrey Meikle
- Design Horizons by Arthur J. Pulos
- Prophecies by Norman Bel Geddes
- Ten years From Now by Norman Bel Geddes
- Norman Bel Geddes and the New Fields of Design by Claude Lichtenstein
- A Research on Automobiles by Franz Engler
- Futurama, new york World's Fair 1939-40 by Barbara Hauss-Fitton
- Works and Projects
Under the loose directorship of Vittorio Gregotti, RASSEGNA is an Italian Design magazine underwritten by five Italian firms: Abet laminati, B&B Italia, Castelli, Molteni and co., and Sabiem. Each issue is devoted to a single designer or theme and is lavishly produced, with high-quality reproduction and carefully selected and presented illustrations.
An American theatrical and industrial designer, Norman Bel Geddes was the first person to seriously apply the concepts of aerodynamics and streamlining to industrial design. To Geddes, streamlining illustrated courage: "We are too much inclined to believe, because things have long been done a certain way, that that is the best way to do them. Following old grooves of thought is one method of playing safe. But it deprives one of initiative and takes too long. It sacrifices the value of the element of surprise. At times, the only thing to do is to cut loose and do the unexpected! It takes more even than imagination to be progressive. It takes vision and courage. "
In 1927, Bel Geddes left theatrical design and began designing cars, ships, factories and railways. He rapidly created streamlined forms for objects ranging from gas-ranges to trains, in addition to a revolving restaurant and, in 1929, a 9-deck amphibian airliner that incorporated areas for deck-games, an orchestra, a fully equipped gymnasium and a solarium.
Bel Geddes designed the famous General Motors Pavilion for the1939 New York Worldıs Fair, which included the Highway and Horizons exhibit, more commonly known as the "Futurama".
Bel Geddes expounded a philosophy of "essential forms" evolved from their systems of use, in his seminal book Horizons, published in 1932. He helped to establish a new professional niche -- that of "industrial designer", arguing for a closer relationship between engineering and design.
out of stock