thumb|Kodak Beau Brownie by Teague (early 1930s)

Walter Dorwin Teague (December 18, 1883 – December 5, 1960) was an American industrial designer, architect, illustrator, graphic designer, writer, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Dean of Industrial Design",

Regarded as a classicist and a traditionalist despite a later shift to modern tastes,

Biography

Teague was one of six children born to an established Decatur, Indiana family. In 1840, Teague's grandfather had moved from North Carolina to Pendleton, Indiana, home to one of America's largest Quaker communities. Teague's father, of Irish forebears, became a circuit-riding Methodist minister (and later full-time tailor) who settled in Pendleton with his family. With little money, the Teague household was laden with books.

Career beginnings

Books on architecture in his high school library influenced Teague's desire to become an artist. At 19 years old, Teague left Indiana for New York City. He studied painting from 1903 to 1907 at the Art Students League of New York, where he met his first wife, Celia Fehon, a fellow artist. To earn money upon his arrival in New York, Teague checked hats at the Young Men's Christian Association in Manhattan, where he also began sign painting. His lettering work evolved into illustration projects for mail order catalogues, for which he drew apparel items such as neckties and shoes. Refusing involvement in the fashion industry, Teague focused his creative efforts on elaborate advertising illustrations, which caught the attention of Walter Whitehead, an advertising executive whom Teague had met at the YMCA.

By the mid-1920s, as the demand for border designs weakened, Teague had become lightly involved in commercial packaging. Intrigued by the International Paris Exposition and European stylistic movements, Teague left for Europe on June 30, 1926, to investigate European design. While abroad he familiarized himself with Bauhaus work during an exhibition in Italy, and became greatly inspired by the architectural creations and writings of Le Corbusier.

Shortly before Teague concluded his 18-year advertising career, he partook in several commissions in product design, for which a growing number of clients sought counseling. At age 43, Teague established a sole proprietorship devoted to product and package design. By 1927, Teague added "Industrial Design" to his letterhead upon landing his first big client, Eastman Kodak.

Richard Bach, a curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, had recommended Teague to Adolph Stuber, a top manager of Rochester, New York-based Eastman Kodak, when the company was considering the assistance of an artist to design cameras. With no knowledge of cameras, Teague proposed working on-site in collaboration with Kodak engineers.

thumbnail|right|Camera, No. 1A Gift Kodak, ca.1930 [[Brooklyn Museum]]

On January 1, 1928, Teague embarked on a design endeavor that culminated in an extensive relationship with Kodak He designed a number of well-known Kodak cameras, including an Art Deco gift camera (1928), the Baby Brownie (1934), the Bantam Special (1936) (considered a masterpiece of Art Deco styling and one of the most popular cameras ever produced,) and the Brownie Hawkeye (1950). More than 20,000 of these art-deco style stations had been built worldwide by 1960. for which he prepared for three months, commuting between Detroit and New York.

Teague made a substantial impact on the 1939 New York World's Fair as one of seven members of the Fair's design board, and was also responsible for nine corporate displays.

Teague's additional exhibition work includes that for the 1957 Milan Triennial, 1961 Civil War Centennial Dome in Richmond, Virginia, the US Science Center for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, as well as the "House of the Future" for the Festival of Gas at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

Post-WWII: confirming a profession

Teague, along with fellow industrial designer pioneers Raymond Loewy and Henry Dreyfuss, experienced monumental success following World War II. The post-war economic boom fueled the American consumer's desire for more and better products, intensifying the demand for industrial design among American businesses.

In 1944, Teague successfully defended the assertion that industrial design was a profession, citing its contributions to the public good before the appeals court in New York State, setting a national precedent. In 1946, Frank Del Giudice (who would later become the company's president) represented WDTA in seeking commissions from The Boeing Company, not only commencing WDTA's lasting relationship with Boeing, but the company's substantial impact in aerospace.

By 1959, WDTA's client list included Ac'cent, Polaroid, Schaefer Beer, Procter & Gamble, UPS, Steinway, General Foods Corporation, Boeing, Con Edison, Du Pont, US Steel, NASA, and the US Navy. His son, Walter Dorwin Teague Jr., who began working with his father in 1934, also devoted his career to industrial design until his own death in 2004.

In 2007, Teague posthumously won the Personal Recognition Award from IDSA. The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum was the setting for the dedication.

In August 2014, Teague was named to the Academy of Fellows by the IDSA. Such recommendations are for members in good standing who have earned the special respect and affection of the membership through distinguished service to the society and to the profession as a whole."

Biographical Documentary Film

In 2014 the feature documentary film "Teague: Design & Beauty" by independent filmmaker, Jason A. Morris, premiered in Austin, Texas. The film documented Teague's life, his rise to prominence, his turbulent relationship with a rebellious son, and the stories behind some of his greatest designs. The film was an official selection at the 2015 Newport Beach Film Festival, Trail Dance Film Festival, and San Diego Design Film Festival. It was also screened at design schools and museums across the United States.

Publications

Teague's best-known book, Design This Day: The Technique of Order in the Machine Age, was first published in 1940, as the first book on the whole subject of industrial design, tracing the development of modern design and outlining necessary techniques to the solution of design problems. Described as a "milestone" in the industry, the book explores the evolution of civilization's reliance on increased industrialization and explains the designer's role.

Museums

Teague's product designs, texts, photographs, and archives are featured in major museums around the world. Among those that have featured Teague's works:

  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
  • Museum of Modern Art, New York City
  • Smithsonian Art Museum; Steinway Peace Piano
  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Design & Architecture collections
  • Wolfsonian; pieces of the World's Fairs & Exhibitions collection (March 2012)
  • Brooklyn Museum; "Walter Dorwin Teague" collection (March 2012)
  • Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum; Product Design and Decorative Arts Collection (March 2012)
  • Cleveland Museum of Art; Century of Progress Prints (March 2012)
  • Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma
  • Chicago Art Institute
  • High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia

References

  • Walter Dorwin Teague – Brownie cameras on www.browniecam.com