Resorts at Sea: September: The Art of Moore-McCormack

“Why they were built in the first place remains a mystery of corporate decision-making,” said Moore-McCormack’s chairman about Argentina and Brasil at a U.S. Congressional hearing.

Entering service towards the end of 1958, Argentina and Brasil were laid up by the fall of 1969, victims of the jet age, which cut into passenger loads, and increasing labor costs.

Several months back, author David Hendrickson forwarded me pages from booklets detailing the artwork on these ships. (We’ve been trading info back and forth like baseball cards.) And recently, I stumbled across a copy of the Argentina booklet on eBay. Had. To. Have. It.

What was unique about the art on these ships is it was mix of new and old. This was in part thanks to Raymond Loewy, who styled several Moore-McCormack ships, Matson's Lurline, and more. In the library was Vanitas by Jan Vermeulen, a contemporary of Rembrandt. In the Casino Lounge: Georges Michel’s Approaching Storm. Michel, according to the text, rarely signed his works, Approaching Storm was an exception. The Sala de Argentina housed Indians on the Lower Mississippi by Felix Marie Ferdinand Storelli, court painter to Louis-Philippe, King of France after the Bourbons were restored to power after Napoleon.

I’ve tried to track these pieces down through an auction tracking sites. There are visual variations of Vanitas and Approaching Storm, and a plausible description of Storelli’s work, but without an image, it may well be a variation, too.

Compare those works to the one below. Very dynamic, very fresh. There were four 16 foot panels each on Argentina and Brasil lining the walls of the café balcony. You see the artist’s name? Rikki? Yeah, that’s a pseudonym. I haven’t been able to crack that one … Yet. The Brasil booklet says they believe the mural technique of baked enamel on aluminum was an innovation. It was, in 1952 when Peter Ostuni used it for the First Class Cocktail Lounge (aka: Navajo Lounge) on United States. Granted, Ostuni’s panels were not this large, and last I checked, size was not an innovation, merely an evolution.

This has lead to theories of how much design influence these two ships had on Holland America when they bought them in the early 1970s. There are definite “genetic” traits at work, and I will explore them soon.

Resorts at Sea: Oh yes, it's another ss Argentina post

I’ve said on several occasions the 1948 postwar renovation of Moore-McCormack’s Argentina has been an obsession.

Given the controversy surrounding the modern art in her newly renovated spaces, obtaining color photos was paramount. Granted, there will be some instances where black and white will just have to do, because some of these ships simply didn’t have a long enough life where color photos exist. Two of the pieces are in the hands of the Smithsonian, two more were published in Fortune magazine, and I’ve found one more in a brochure. But Loren MacIver’s mural Voyage has been the proverbial white whale. I came across a stunning black and white photo of Voyage in an issue of Interiors + Industrial Design a few months back, but I still wanted that color.
 

I found a brochure online. What surprised me was given the vitriolic comments lobbed at this art photos containing said art were still being used as late as 1952, which is the date on the brochure I won. (While I have read calls to change out the artworks, it was never done.)

Ok, this should satiate my need for all things Argentina for the moment. This month, I’ve been reviewing the papers of sculptor Austin Purves, Jr. through Smithsonian microfilm. He did work for America, United States, Santa Rosa, and Santa Paula. So much to process, but it’s been very fun looking at the creative process.

Resorts at Sea: April 2013: Argentina's refit

I admit it, I have a bordering on unhealthy fixation with Argentina’s postwar refit. This is not the first time I’ve posted about her, and it may not be the last. I can’t help it.

Moore-McCormack’s Argentina was built as the twin-funneled Pennsylvania for the Panama Pacific Line in 1929. A refit in 1937 reduced her two stacks to one, and she became the Argentina for American Republic Line’s South America route, managed by Moore-McCormack. World War II brought troopship duties, and after that strenuous service, a renovation was due.

 Argentina in her element. Taken from a brochure in my collection.

The Argentina was pushing 20 by the time the face lift was over, and was crowding 30 when retired in 1958. And let’s face it, when compared to such streamlined ships as Ancon, Cristobal, and Panama from 1939, and the Del Norte-trio from 1946, Argentina was dowdy. A solid ship, but dated.

My readings indicate the Maritime Commission (or Maritime Administration depending upon where you’re at in the timeline) had to sign off on design decisions. Henry Dreyfuss, who oversaw the interiors of American Export’s Independence and Constitution in 1951, said as much in his 1955 book Designing for People. (A shout out to author David Hendrickson, who told me to read it.)

Loren MacIver's Voyage. This 9' x 18' canvas was the focal point

 of Argentina's Main Lounge. Taken from the February 1948 issue

of Interiors + Industrial Design. I'd love to find a color version of this.

 

And I’m seeing where the Maritime Commission actually owned the Argentina, and Moore-McCormack simply operated her, which makes the design decisions completely the responsibility of the Commission; they signed off on Deskey’s designs. At this point, I don’t believe Moore-McCormack had any input. Wow. Digging through the Maritime Commission archives would be like trying to find where the Feds put the Ark of the Covenant after the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I’d seen a citation entitled “Ship in Distress” in the February 1948 issue of Interiors + Industrial Design. This is not the easiest title to track down, but find one I did. After pushing my eyeballs back into their sockets upon seeing the price, I took a deep breath, and ordered it. The article stressed the need for art to be more of a focal point in interior design, not to have it blend in.

I bumped a post scheduled for today regarding how much it cost to decorate these ships with murals and sculpture, but it gives me time to double-check the math and maybe beef up a couple sections. And I recently came into possession of a 1968 American President Lines brochure I’d like to compare/contrast with some from Princess Cruises of the same year. Unless something earth-shattering breaks, that’ll be coming up in May and June.