Resorts at Sea: December update

The log-jam broke, and I finally fetched some items from storage. The bulk of material retrieved relates to this project. Still, limited to what I could (safely) take, a lot of weeding took place.

Among the pieces were several articles I was 90% sure I had, but until they were in my grubby little hands, that 10% really nagged at me. Now I have clear descriptions of all the public rooms of (almost) all the ships in this study. I say almost, because many of these ships were part of a duo, trio, or quartet, and only the first ship in the relevant series was detailed at length.

Plus, all my ocean liner ads are under one roof. This collection is made up primarily of National Geographics ranging from 1919 to the late 1960s. While by no means a comprehensive collection of all steamship advertising, this is a good representation of how these ships were promoted, plus the occasional interior photo can be found, sometimes in color.

 April 1927; March 1938; March 1946

One of the most prolific advertisers was Matson Lines, with sailings from the

West Coast to Hawaii and the South Seas. It's neat to see the evolution in just

these three ads. Black and white illustration, full-color photo, and a highly

streamlined version of their ships.

September 1954; February 1964

Matson pretty much had the lock on the West Coast-Hawaii route, and

over the years, they crafted the message that they were Hawaii; that you're

in Hawaii the moment you step on board. After the Mariposa and Monterey

arrived in the late 1950s, a greater focus was placed on the South Seas,

as shown in the last ad.

Part of this project may include a compare/contrast analysis between the steamships and the land-based hotels/resorts of the same period. Amenities came into increasing focus as transcontinental jets forced steamship companies to push the benefits of leisurely traveling from A to B. Why travel to a resort, when you could travel in a resort? The question is in itself the answer to how today's cruise ships are marketed. I've a few very good books addressing the topic, and I'm not sure how much more I can bring to the conversation; perhaps a small, yet heavily illustrated section; as that's one thing I've not seen to date.

Resorts at Sea: October update

Because of my research into everything Mid-century – specifically, the late 1940s through the early 1960s – I found myself immersed in architecture from that time, and loving it. I also kept coming across references to the Case Study Houses. Long story short, I went to artsandarchitecture.com, and downloaded all the PDFs relating to the Case Study Houses.

In a word, holy crap. These articles are an amazing read, and anyone interested in residential architecture should read them. They are a very welcome distraction. I’m also finding inspirations in the article layouts, not that I’m going to deliberately revisit what I’ve already done, but if something should happen, it’ll come about organically.

As the tentative title of this project is Resorts at Sea, there should be some content regarding land-based resorts, following a similar timeline. In order to make it accessible to the reader, I’ll focus on those resorts most familiar to the casual observer, even if the names aren’t known.

For example, the Fountainebleau Hotel in Miami has a guest appearance immediately after the opening credits in the movie Goldfinger, and is a prime example of resort architecture, and will help draw comparisons to the evolution of passenger ship design and décor. (I hope.) An interesting aside, Morris Lapidus designed the Fountainebleau, and he also had a hand in Carnival Cruise Lines’ early ships, the Mardi Gras and Carnivale.

In the You’ve Got to be Kidding Me! Department, I found a website dedicated to post-World War II American ships … Based in Germany. It’s amazing that many nations take pride in their maritime heritage, while the United States seems to fall short. Yes we have our enthusiasts, but sometimes we pale compared to our European counterparts. It was here where I found a number of magazines from the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in PDF. Huzzah! I’ll take it where I can get it.

 The sleek ns Savannah.

The Savannah's dining room. A gold model 

of the original steam-powered Savannah is center left.

I also found a veritable trove of documents on the final ship to be discussed in this project, the ns Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered commercial vessel. Although sleek and curvy in design, these are traits not welcome when hauling cargo, as she came on the scene as boxy container ships were dawning.

It’s also fitting she’s last, as the first ships covered are the Panama, Ancon, and Cristobal, identical sisters for the Panama Line. Those three and the Savannah were designed by the firm of George G. Sharp. You can be sure I’ll touch upon the evolution of his design work.

Resorts at Sea ... June update

With the help of some invaluable research assistance, several hundred pages in articles have been amassed and are currently being skimmed for further leads.

Research is interesting. (No fooling, it really is.) Now a typo may sound like a minor thing, but it's opened up another avenue to travel. Allow me to discuss an article concerning a post-war renovation ...

Artwork on Moore-McCormack's Argentina (ex-Panama Pacific liner Pennsylvania, not her 1957 replacement) was attributed to Theodore Stanos. I believe they meant Theodoros Stamos.

Which leads to a lesson in too much is really too much. In a short bio, I read Stamos was the executor of (fellow abstract expressionist painter) Mark Rothko's estate. Rothko's family later accused Stamos of serious financial shenanigans. To settle the judgment levied against him, Stamos agreed to sign over his house to the Rothko estate. Interesting? Very. Relevant to what I'm working on? At this point, doubtful. In any case, the fact he was an abstract expressionist fits with the rest of the art on the Argentina, thus the Stanos referenced in the article is most likely Stamos.

Which is why I'm not sure if it's practical or feasible to include a mini-history of modern American art and do it justice. There is just so much to cover. I'm warming to the idea of some artist bios scattered throughout, but there are over 60 artisans (and counting) to choose from.

Switching gears a little to focus on actual artwork ...

The top portion of the photo shows the First Class Dining Room of the ss United States.

The center highlighted portion shows Gwen Lux's Expressions of Freedom statues carved

from foam glass to save on weight. I'm curious to know who did the other highlighted 

decoration on the left. It's delightfully amorphic. The bottom if the First Class Ballroom

with Charles Gilbert's carved glass panels depicting sealife.

With the exception of the pieces from the ss United States, very few works of art from these ships remain. Thanks to a 1984 auction, just about everything from the United States wound up in private hands. The statues Gwen Lux created for the First Class Dining Room are in the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Virginia, and several carved glass panels from the First Class Ballroom make up the decor in the SS United States Restaurant onboard Celebrity Cruises' Infinity.

The mural above the bar is similar to the one salvaged from the Texas Clipper

before she was sunk in 2007 to create an artifical reef. Saul Steinberg

created a mural for each of American Export Lines' "Four Aces."

In an extraordinary bit of luck, a mural by Saul Steinberg was saved as the USTS Texas Clipper, formerly American Export's Excambion, was being readied to end her days as an artificial reef off the coast of Texas.

To conclude, I will venture to guess as the bulk of America's post war liners changed hands, and as new owners imposed their decor, piece by piece, the original furnishings disappeared and may never be completely tracked down. Now I'm not about to promise an Indiana Jones-type search, but it would be neat if some of these works -- great examples of mid-century modern art -- were still hanging somewhere, their observers unaware of the heritage.