Gilbert Rohde
Encyclopedia
Gilbert Rohde whose career as a furniture and industrial designer helped to define American modernism
during its first phase from the late 1920s to World War II
, is best known today for inaugurating modern design at Herman Miller
Inc. Beginning in 1932, and continuing up to the time of his death in 1944, Rohde advised Herman Miller’s president, Dirk Jan De Preee on design, marketing, and production. Herman Miller was one of a dozen furniture manufacturers where Rohde initiated modern design, among them the Heywood-Wakefield Company
, the Widdicomb Company, and the Troy Sunshade Company.
Rohde lived in New York City
and its environs throughout his life. He was educated in New York City public schools, graduating in 1913 from Stuyvesant High School
, which was known at the time for its rigorous vocational studies program. Post-high school studies included classes at the Art Students League and the Grand Central School of Art
. A 1927 trip to France and Germany was the prelude to his career in design, and marked the transition from his work in advertising illustration to design. His work reflected American streamline moderne
design, as well as trends in European art and design (he made two additional trips to Europe in 1931 and 1937), including French moderne, the International Design style associated with the Bauhaus
, and later, Surrealism
. His biomorphic tables and desks, made by Herman Miller, were the first examples of biomorphic furniture manufactured in America, anticipating forms that would define mid-century modernism.
Rohde was a tireless advocate for modern furniture and interiors in American homes, apartments, offices, and commercial and institutional settings. He designed many lines of modular furniture, promoted for its flexibility, functionality, and suitability for apartments and small homes. He became known for experimenting with industrial materials in furniture and interiors, including Plexiglas, Lucite, Bakelite, and Fabrikoid
(a leather-like fabric made by DuPont
). One of his most innovative designs was a molded Plexiglas chair made in 1939, and shown at the Rohm and Haas
display at the 1939 New York World’s Fair
. Of the two prototypes of this chair, one was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art
in 2000. Rohde's work is included in major museum collections among them: the Brooklyn Museum
, the Wolfsonian, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
, The Henry Ford
, the Newark Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
, and the Dallas Museum of Art
. In Europe his work is owned by the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Vitra Design Museum
.
His Executive Office Group (EOG) line, launched in 1942 by Herman Miller, was the earliest example of a systems approach to office furniture. The line’s 137 individual elements—drawers, drawer pedestals, tabletops, and other items—could be configured according to individual work requirements. It became the standard approach to high-end office furniture.
In addition to his design work, Rohde taught industrial design, first at the Design Laboratory (1935–37), a New Deal
program in New York City sponsored by the Works Progress Administration
, where he also served as director. He subsequently taught at New York University
, and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Washington
in Seattle. He participated in the founding of the Society of Industrial Designers (now IDSA
).
Rohde’s work was publicized through hundreds of articles in design and architecture magazines, newspapers, and in popular magazines such as House Beautiful
. His work was featured at several fairs of the 1930s, including the Century of Progress
Exposition in Chicago in 1933 and 1934, and in the Decorative Arts Pavilion at San Francisco’s Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939. Consumers could purchase his furniture at upscale department stores in New York (Bloomingdale's
), Washington (Woodward & Lothrop
), Philadelphia (Wanamaker's
), Cleveland (Halle Brothers Co.
), and elsewhere.
By focusing on design for mass production, Rohde hoped to make modern design the national style of America and to bring modern design to the greatest number of consumers.
As part of its Pioneers of American Industrial Design series, the United States Postal Service
issued on August 25, 2011 a commemorative first-class Forever stamp featuring a Rohde-designed clock.
American modernism
American modernism like modernism in general is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic...
during its first phase from the late 1920s to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, is best known today for inaugurating modern design at Herman Miller
Herman Miller
Herman Miller may refer to:*Herman Miller , U.S. manufacturer of office furniture and equipment*Herman Miller , Hollywood writer and producer...
Inc. Beginning in 1932, and continuing up to the time of his death in 1944, Rohde advised Herman Miller’s president, Dirk Jan De Preee on design, marketing, and production. Herman Miller was one of a dozen furniture manufacturers where Rohde initiated modern design, among them the Heywood-Wakefield Company
Heywood-Wakefield Company
The Heywood-Wakefield Company is a US furniture manufacturer established in 1897. It went on to become a major presence in the US and its older products are considered valuable collectibles.-History:...
, the Widdicomb Company, and the Troy Sunshade Company.
Rohde lived in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and its environs throughout his life. He was educated in New York City public schools, graduating in 1913 from Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
, which was known at the time for its rigorous vocational studies program. Post-high school studies included classes at the Art Students League and the Grand Central School of Art
Grand Central School of Art
The Grand Central School of Art was an American art school in New York City, founded in 1923 by the painters Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark and John Singer Sargent. The school was established and run by the Grand Central Art Galleries, an artists' cooperative founded by Sargent, Greacen,...
. A 1927 trip to France and Germany was the prelude to his career in design, and marked the transition from his work in advertising illustration to design. His work reflected American streamline moderne
Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...
design, as well as trends in European art and design (he made two additional trips to Europe in 1931 and 1937), including French moderne, the International Design style associated with the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
, and later, Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
. His biomorphic tables and desks, made by Herman Miller, were the first examples of biomorphic furniture manufactured in America, anticipating forms that would define mid-century modernism.
Rohde was a tireless advocate for modern furniture and interiors in American homes, apartments, offices, and commercial and institutional settings. He designed many lines of modular furniture, promoted for its flexibility, functionality, and suitability for apartments and small homes. He became known for experimenting with industrial materials in furniture and interiors, including Plexiglas, Lucite, Bakelite, and Fabrikoid
Fabrikoid
Fabrikoid was an imitation leather manufactured by DuPont.Fabrikoid consists of cotton cloth coated with nitrocellulose. Among other uses it has been used for lugage, bookbinding, upholstery and dress trimmings. By the 1920s fabrikoid was used heavily in both automobile seat-covers and the tops...
(a leather-like fabric made by DuPont
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
). One of his most innovative designs was a molded Plexiglas chair made in 1939, and shown at the Rohm and Haas
Rohm and Haas
Rohm and Haas Company, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based company, manufactures miscellaneous materials. Formerly a Fortune 500 Company, Rohm and Haas employs more than 17,000 people in 27 countries, with its last sales revenue reported as an independent company at USD 8.9 billion. On July 10,...
display at the 1939 New York World’s Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
. Of the two prototypes of this chair, one was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in 2000. Rohde's work is included in major museum collections among them: the Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
, the Wolfsonian, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
, The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford, a National Historic Landmark, , in the Metro Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, USA, is a large indoor and outdoor history museum complex...
, the Newark Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, and the Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, USA, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, Dallas, Texas...
. In Europe his work is owned by the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Vitra Design Museum
Vitra Design Museum
The Vitra Design Museum is an internationally renowned, privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany.Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum founded the museum in 1989 as an independent private foundation...
.
His Executive Office Group (EOG) line, launched in 1942 by Herman Miller, was the earliest example of a systems approach to office furniture. The line’s 137 individual elements—drawers, drawer pedestals, tabletops, and other items—could be configured according to individual work requirements. It became the standard approach to high-end office furniture.
In addition to his design work, Rohde taught industrial design, first at the Design Laboratory (1935–37), a New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
program in New York City sponsored by the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
, where he also served as director. He subsequently taught at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle. He participated in the founding of the Society of Industrial Designers (now IDSA
IDSA
IDSA may stand for one of the following.*Industrial Designers Society of America*Infectious Diseases Society of America*Entertainment Software Association, formerly the Interactive Digital Software Association*Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses...
).
Rohde’s work was publicized through hundreds of articles in design and architecture magazines, newspapers, and in popular magazines such as House Beautiful
House Beautiful
House Beautiful is an interior decorating magazine that focuses on decorating and the domestic arts. First published in 1896, it is currently published by the Hearst Corporation, who purchased it in 1934...
. His work was featured at several fairs of the 1930s, including the Century of Progress
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
Exposition in Chicago in 1933 and 1934, and in the Decorative Arts Pavilion at San Francisco’s Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939. Consumers could purchase his furniture at upscale department stores in New York (Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...
), Washington (Woodward & Lothrop
Woodward & Lothrop
Woodward & Lothrop was a department store chain headquartered in Washington, D.C. Woodward & Lothrop was Washington, D.C.'s first department store, opening in 1887. Woodies, as it was often nicknamed, maintained stores in the Mid-Atlantic United States...
), Philadelphia (Wanamaker's
Wanamaker's
Wanamaker's department store was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the first department stores in the United States. At its zenith in the early 20th century, there were two major Wanamaker department stores, one in Philadelphia and one in New York City at Broadway...
), Cleveland (Halle Brothers Co.
Halle Brothers Co.
Halle Brothers Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, commonly referred to as Halle's, is a defunct department store chain. During most of time of operations, Halle's focused on higher-end merchandise, which it combined with personal service. The company was the first major department store in Cleveland to open...
), and elsewhere.
By focusing on design for mass production, Rohde hoped to make modern design the national style of America and to bring modern design to the greatest number of consumers.
As part of its Pioneers of American Industrial Design series, the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
issued on August 25, 2011 a commemorative first-class Forever stamp featuring a Rohde-designed clock.
Sources
- Gilbert Rohde: Modern Design for Modern Living by Phyllis Ross (Yale University Press, 2009) ISBN 0300120648; ISBN 978-0300120646
- "A Bridge to Postwar American Design: Gilbert Rohde and the 1937 Paris Exposition," by Phyllis Ross in Paris-New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925-1940 by Donald Albrecht, ed. (The Monacelli Press, 2008) ISBN 1580932118; ISBN 978-1580932110
- “Merchandising the Modern: Gilbert Rohde at Herman Miller” by Phyllis Ross, Journal of Design History 2004 17(4): 359-376
Further reading
- “Exhibiting Modernity through the Lens of Tradition in Gilbert Rohde's Design for Living Interior” by Monica Obniski, Journal of Design History 2007 20(3): 227-242
- Livable Modernism by Kristina Wilson (Yale University Press, 2004) ISBN 0300104758; ISBN 978-0300104752
- “Gilbert Rohde and the Evolution of Modern Design, 1927-1941” by Derek E. Ostergard and David Hanks, Arts Magazine 56 (October 1981): 98-107