Resorts at Sea: November/December

You’re in the middle of a project when it strikes you: “What possible purpose does this serve?” Or better yet: “What the **** am I doing?” You finally climb down from the ledge upon the realization that doubt is normal. It makes you ask questions. The answers will help you determine a course of action … Hopefully. And if you’ve never had those feelings, one has to question whether or not you’re human. But we can discuss that another time.

Lately, I’ve had some doubts, but at the same time, the deeper I dig, I’ve yet to find anything like what I’m working on. A lot of ocean liner books rehash and repeat, and I truly believe that with this project, I will be adding something new to the conversation. (Obviously with a little rehash to set the stage; you do have to draw folks in.) So if I tend to repeat my goals, forgive me, it does help keep me on track. Like I’m going to do right now …

As I’ve mentioned many times, one of the primary goals of this project is to produce a catalog of art. I don’t have the chops to delve into art history, and except for an artist’s bio; any critical analysis on my part would be a most foolish task. This could also go into the artwork used to promote these ships. I do have an extensive ad collection, and the images are quite striking. And this could easily bleed into interior design, mainly because the working title is Resorts at Sea.

A few ads from the collection: Matson, American President, Grace, and Delta.

They range from 1946-1957.

Now a catalog without pictures is a poor one, so I’ve been trying to gather images to supplement the research. This is much easier said than done. But I have had a bit of success. Finding the art alone is preferred; finding it in situ is acceptable, thus the possible delving into interior design. I hope to have more color images than black and white. However, there is a point where beggars can’t be choosers.

Main Lounge of Matson Lines' Lurline from a 1939 brochure. Love

the pagoda. This did not survive her postwar refit.

Recent excursions on eBay have resulted in a mini-trove. I found a pre-World War II Matson Lines brochure showing 1930s interiors plus a “sketchbook” from Moore-McCormack. I say “sketchbook” because it’s all renderings. (Have I mentioned I love late 1950s artwork? Oh, only about 1,000 times.) It’s interesting that I’ve not seen these images in books. Ocean liner history generally focuses on the general history and the exteriors of the ship, rarely the interiors, and if an interior shot makes its way in, a good chunk of the time it’s a crowd shot or the focus is on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor or other notables of the time. I have a few more (IN COLOR!) on the way.

 From  the debut brochure of Moore-McCormack's Argentina and Brasil. Notice

how the name of the ship on the stern and the caption differ. The latter is correct.

I’m also working on translating a French text: Les Oeuvres d’Art du Paquebot France which I bought on a calculated whim about six years ago. My flatbed scanner can do character recognition, and I can set it for French characters. I’ll scan, then cut and paste to an online translation page. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do, and it may provide some insight as to where this project can go. It is worth noting there are no exterior photos of the France, only the art, and the deck plans noting where the art was located.