John Vassos: Industrial Design for Modern Life
Talk at Hagley Museum and Library on March 16 at 7pm
I am so excited to be speaking at the Hagley Museum and Library on March 16. The Hagley holds the David Sarnoff Papers which were instrumental in my book to tell the story of John Vassos's relationship with RCA. The Hagley Library also holds the rights to Broadcast News, the in-house journal of RCA, which I used to illustrate Vassos's contributions to RCA throughout my book. For example, I included this page above which welcomed Vassos to RCA in 1932 and showed him surrounded by his many illustrations and designs from Salome, from Phobia, the Packard advertisement, interiors for Nedick's restaurant and other work. He was hired to make RCA more profitable in their radio manufacturing business which had fallen to 5th in the country.
AUTHOR TALK: INDUSTRIAL DESIGN FOR MODERN LIFENEXT DATE: March 16, 2017 | 7 p.m. | Thursday
CATEGORY: ACADEMIC PROGRAMS, FEATURE ON HOME PAGE, AUTHOR TALKS, ADULT PROGRAMS | LOCATION:LIBRARY, SODA HOUSEDanielle Shapiro (Independent Scholar), "Industrial Design for Modern Life: John Vassos and RCA"
This lecture is open to the public.
Those planning to attend should r.s.v.p. to Carol Lockman, clockman@Hagley.org or call 302-658-2400, ext. 243.
In her talk, Industrial Design for Modern Life, Dr. Danielle Shapiro will explore the life and career of John Vassos, a Greek émigré who rose from anonymity as an advertising artist to become one of the pioneering founders of the industrial design profession. As the Radio Corporation of America's (RCA) leading designer, Vassos shaped the aesthetics of modern technology in the postwar era and became one of the most influential industrial designers of the twentieth century.
Danielle Shapiro is the author of the first biography of John Vassos, John Vassos: Industrial Design for Modern Life. Shapiro earned a Ph.D. from the Department of Art History and Communications Studies from McGill University. Her awards and distinctions are numerous and include a teaching fellowship at Harvard University, a Fulbright Award, postdoctoral fellowships at the Archives of American Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and at the Wolfsonian Museum. Dr. Shapiro has also served as Senior Program Officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities, taught courses at American University, Hunter College, and Emerson College, and has authored numerous journal articles.
Read more about Hagley Author Talks here.
Danielle Shapiro, Ph.D. is a writer and author of the first biography of John Vassos, modernist Greek-American industrial designer - John Vassos: Industrial Design for Modern Life. She is based in Baltimore, MD and blogs at www.johnvassos.com.