DIGPREVIEW
The Duchess of Hamilton locomotive is the star of the show in an exhibition exploring the links between fashion, engineering and design in the 1930s opening at NRM, York on 20th May
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Streamlined: Styling An Era
A late branch of the Art Deco design style, Streamlining took the engineering and architectural world by storm.
Characterised by emphasised curving forms, long horizontal lines and the occasional nautical element, Streamlining emerged in the mid-1920s, and reached its height in the years immediately preceding WWII.
The most famous streamlined architectural examples include Bexhill on Sea’s De La Warr Pavilion (where Unpopular Culture - the exhibition curated by Grayson Perry showing in Scarborough and previewed on digyorkshire.com this month - first opened last year), Morecambe’s recently restored Midland Hotel and the entire New Zealand town of Napier, rebuilt in the style after an earthquake virtually swallowed the original town.
By far the more famous, though, are streamlined engineering gems like the infamous Hindenburg zeppelin, the Lockheed Vega Amelia Earhart became the first woman to cross the Atlantic in - and the Chrysler Airflow and The Duchess of Hamilton locomotive, both of which will be taking pride of place in new exhibition Streamlined: Styling An Era, opening at the National Railway Museum, York on 20th May.
Restored to its original streamlined form, The Duchess of Hamilton is one of the stars of the NRM’s collections and the centrepiece of an exhibition telling the story of how her streamlined design provided a powerful and fast way to travel in the 1930s, and explores the links between fashion, engineering, design and the steam age.
The exhibition’s second most important piece is undoubtedly the Chrysler Airflow, the beautifully stylised automobile whose striking lines so captured the imagination – though it conversely flopped in terms of sales – of the American public when it was launched in 1934.