Open AccessSelling the American Dream: MoMA, Industrial Design and Post-War France
Author(s) -
Garret J. McDonald
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of design history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.133
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1741-7279
pISSN - 0952-4649
DOI - 10.1093/jdh/17.4.397
Subject(s) - exhibition , dream , modern art , new deal , industrial revolution , government (linguistics) , cold war , visual art of the united states , political science , economic history , engineering , visual arts , art , art history , history , law , performance art , neuroscience , linguistics , philosophy , politics , biology
This archival investigation uses as a case study the Museum of Modern Art’s “50 Years of American Art” (1955) to assess the role of MoMA and the U.S. Government in promoting American industrial design within France during the cold war. The author asserts that these powerful institutions came to view such wares as a vital means of quelling growing fears of American cultural homogenization within France. The paper investigates how through “50 Years of American Art” the exhibition organizers sought to build support for an American way of life enhanced by a merger between some of the nation’s leading creative talents and its vast technological might. Fostering the development of markets and a new identity and desire for such goods within France represented a parallel mission of these institutions
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