Modern art takes to the waves
In 1933 Cunard commissioned paintings from Edward Wadsworth and other leading British artists for its new flagship liner, the "Queen Mary". But, as Abbie N. Sprague explains, artistic expression had to bend to commercial taste.
Abbie N. Sprague, Wednesday, 23rd April 2008
Cunard’s announcement that it was to commission a luxury ocean liner captured imaginations on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1930s. The shipbuilder’s contract was signed in December 1930 and the first keel-plate laid. However, thanks to the Depression, work halted the following year and did not resume until April 1934. Cunard’s subsequent merger with the White Star Line and a loan from the British government made completion possible.
Between her conception and christening, the quadruple-screw turbine steamer was simply known as No. 534.1 On 26 September 1934, Queen Mary, accompanied by George v and the Prince of Wales, launched the newest addition to the Cunard White Star fleet, christening it the Queen Mary. Over the next year and a half, the ship was outfitted with the most advanced technology and her interiors designed and decorated. The Queen Mary, a ‘floating palace’ embodying the latest in naval architecture, marine engineering and scientific research, was hailed as ‘the greatest achievement in the history of British shipbuilding’ (Fig. 1).2
From the beginning, Cunard viewed the liner’s interiors as fundamental to its lasting prestige and cachet. Statistics, tonnage, and technology could temporarily amaze, but it was the interior decoration and works of art that would remain in passengers’ memories. The American architect Benjamin Wistar Morris is largely credited with the ship’s interior design.3 He was the designer of the Cunard Building, the company’s New York headquarters, and his friendship with Sir Percy Bates, chairman of Cunard White Star, assured his appointment. He was later joined by Arthur J. Davis, principal architect at the British firm Mewès and Davis, who was known for his interiors at the Ritz hotel in London and his decoration of Cunard’s Aquitania (1914).4
This prominent design team was formed to cater to the tastes of Cunard’s predominantly American and British clientele. Their aim was to provide luxury and streamlined design while avoiding anything deemed blatantly modern. The press acknowledged Cunard’s success. As The Shipbuilder and Marine Engine-Builder remarked, ‘the passenger spaces reveal…a fine appreciation of aesthetic fitness. Not a harsh note struck anywhere. The modern influence undoubtedly exists, but rampant modernity has been studiously and successfully avoided.’5
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