This book is a reasonable visual survey of streamlined transport from a European perspective. America can claim to be the place where streamline really took off, though essentially seen as a commercial concept to sell more products. Add three speed lines or a horizontal teardrop shape to any household product to guarantee sales.
European designers didn't see streamline as a sales tool but more as an idea to increase speed in any form of transport, though I think the two authors have stretched the title by including, surprisingly, airships; there are several photos of the LZ Graf Zepperlin. The European-designed trains lacked the slickness of the American versions but it's worth remembering, in the case of steam trains, that the engines looked streamlined because they were completely covered in a metal shroud. The Henry Dreyfuss-designed New York Central 'Twentieth Century Limited' must have looked really impressive thundering through a rural station. European cars fared better in their design. Fiat and Peugeot looked as good as the very popular Chrysler 'Airflow' designed by Norman Bel Geddes.
The pages include most forms of transport, particularly trains and cars, with a look-in at motorcycles, ships and aircraft. I thought it unfortunate that all this interesting material wasn't presented to the reader with more care. The text and captions use quite small type and so many of the photos are excessively small despite plenty of page space to display them.
No comments:
Post a Comment