Relation Between Automobile Design and the Modern in Modernism

Introduction

There is no doubt that automotive design in the early 1920s is representative of modernism; it is the epitome of mechanization, commodification and mass production. Its development can essentially be viewed as a chemical reaction between functionalities and symbolical designs. Like many products in design, there is never a truly perfect, final version. Yet up until 1920s, automotive had very little to do with design: modernist movements essentially built the framework for the methodology of automobile design. In a way, the disruptive change of taste that happened nearly a hundred years ago changed the in which way we see our cars, and the underlying relation we have with the product. In the following sections, the focus will be mainly on American modernism, as the evolution of automobile industry initiated there. Thus, the majority of the examples will be intentionally selected to fit both the timeline and the location, alongside the historical and societal events that provided influencing factors both directly and indirectly. A Brief History of Automobiles (before modernism strikes in) Potentially being one of the most prominent inventions ever, the history of the automobile is rather laborious. Before inventors experimented with gasoline powered vehicles in the late nineteenth century, the common impression of the automobile was essentially a horseless drawn cab with an engine.

Not long after the automobile had overcome those technical challenges, Henry Ford first came up with the concept of assembly line production in 1908 and made vehicles affordable to the general public. Over 15 million Model T Fords were sold until its discontinuation in 1927. Soon after the introduction of the Model T, many other competitors copied procedure to achieve high production, and the automotive industry became a rapidly advancing field filled with possibilities. How Modernist Design Hit the Car Industry As can be seen from figure above, on the timeline of design language of automobiles, the Model T from Ford was still at the transition stage. It was highly influenced by the structure of horse drawn cabs and the height of chassis and box shaped wheelbase were the signature touch of vehicle back then, due to the relatively slower development of infrastructure. The demand for better designed roads was an unexpected one for the US government, which may be a shocking constraint for designers nowadays, but for car manufacturers in the first quarter of the 1920s, how to maintain the functionalities of their products was a priority before anything else. The fact is, modernism hit the car industry rather late. For various reasons, the automobile went through a technological evolution and the price war, an unavoidable transaction, arrived not long after.

The reason automotive design is a combination of functionality and symbolical design is that once the market hit its first saturation, manufacturers had to encourage consumers to update their products in ways that had not been considered before. Given the fast expansion of infrastructure in the US, the long outdated tractor build of vehicles was able to be elevated to a whole new level, with lower, longer and more sophisticated designs such as the iconic Auto Union streamliner concept car produced in 1923. Like most modernist designs, the visual language of it is innovative. It made the world seem unfamiliar to public then, as rearranged by the conventions of design (Butler, 2010). Yet today, the car seems still manage to capture the essence of the Roaring Twenties. Suggested by General Motors head Alfred P. Sloan Jr., car manufacturers announced annual model-year design replacements to convince existing consumers that they needed an update. Such strategy is commonly known as planned obsolescence, which generated huge success for automobile producers as it had become ubiquitous in peoples’ daily lives. This slowly affected the product design industry and thereby played a part in the foundation of modern economy.

Despite the price drop, automobiles were still made for those who could afford a more than just the basics. Unlike pearl earrings in a shop window, a car is not only itself a product to be sold, it brings people together and creates a space for a group of people: ‘the narrative is keen to portray this shared look as a relation built on a shared ideology, in this case of nationalist loyalty, as people assume that the car contains an important national figure’ (Duffy, 2009). For the public, cars suggested not only a means of transportation, but also a symbolic gesture of power: the power of self expression, the power of expensive tastes. It also brought about the new trend of dependence on science and technology rather than the traditional belief in religion.

The public’s interests gradually translated to a huge range of mass-produced consumer products including not only expensive commodities like automobiles, but also popular-priced goods, which embodied modernity and efficiency. The famed sociologist Max first termed ‘rationalisation’ as a process of modernity, which means that society is managed based on a rational and logical system of objective data and theories, by changing traditions, religion, or emotions to scientific reason as motivators. For instance, the first car refined for popular consumption called Gaz-M20 Pobeda, which became extremely success and dominated the western society as the lynchpin around 1940s to 60s. Like McCourt said, using the pared-down austerity of the Great Depression to its advantage and celebrating the machine-made, this home-grown design theme tapped into the general sense of progress that arrived with newly practical and accessible transportation forms like the metal fuselage-bodied airplane, the sleek Zeppelin, the high-performance automobile and the luxurious ocean liner (McCourt, 2012).

Visual appearance is definitely the vitalist elements of launching a new commodity which emerged from over millions of other products, its smoothly curved aesthetics of streamline shape and the perfect symmetry represented the industrial and scientific theories, which made the car palatable and desirable to the average masses who keen to have an efficient and speedy life. This is one of the most significant innovation in the automobile design history, it signifies the ‘concept of machine motion changed from an almost primitive rhythm of watch gears turning to a new, smooth, constantly accelerating motion’ (Wilson, 1986). 'Industrial design, as it emerged in the early 1930s, did not have clear boundaries; it encompassed everyday products like furniture and architecture as well as duplicating machines and cars,' wrote Richard Guy Wilson. 'In this way, modern design and the machine entered the popular consciousness and became acceptable.” Like the examples discussed above and their historical and technological background, we can conclude that the automobile is merely a microcosm of modernism, a microcosm of that specific period of time.

Although many artists and designers were intoxicated by the revolutionary movement, automobile remained one of the representatives of the time, at least for product designs, when everyone was searching for Utopia. People went from unable to imagine any item without ornaments to a new obsession with ‘form follows function' which opens up endless opportunities for designs of the time. Looking back, the visual languages of the automobile not only captured the designers understanding of a mass consumerism society, but also their own interpretation on the aesthetic of the time. Modernism is a subsequent response to the ideal life, it was done by embracing innovations and experiments on styles, one could say modernism is a rebellion that benefits and contributes to our modern lives, yet a simple rebellion could never had an impact on the later generations quite so easily. It is not a coincidence that modernism made its rise soon after industrial revolution and the growth of consumerism after World War I, in a way, many historical events acted as catalysts for the modernist movement. The rapid developments of science and engineering are the fundamental reason modernist designs are able to stand the test of time, in this case, every curvature on the design of the automobile were justified by fluid dynamics.