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...for a modern American storefront. Excerpt from the book 'Shop America. Midcentury Storefront Design 1938 – 1950'. By Steven Heller.
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In Nighthawks, Edward Hopper’s 1942 moody masterpiece, patrons sit like mannequins around the counter of an unnamed restaurant. A fishbowl window frames the quiet interaction between three customers - two men and one woman - and the counter attendant, frozen in time. At once compelling visual poetry about loneliness and malaise, this painting also evokes a decidedly unintended additional message, promoting virtues of the welldesigned modern American storefront.
Although blasphemous to reduce such a tour de force of 20th century American art to a pitch for commercial architecture, Hopper was so acutely aware of the distinction between simple shopwindows and monumental storefronts that this painting could be viewed as product placement for both the plate-glass industry and the storefront style known as the “Visual Front.” If Nighthawks had originally been created as a trade magazine advertisement for a glass company or architectural firm, no self-respecting, retail-savvy merchant could ignore the implicit notion that unfettered window display equals increased business.
Hopper had no intention of selling storefronts. But he used these windows to compose a picture within a picture, making the storefront both frame and image, and the entire city a kind of übergallery in which the picture hangs. Taken a step further, and given the way scheming minds of strategic marketers work, if products could be seen as attainable artworks in this urban gallery, then there was no better way to reach out to the consumer than by using what in industry speak is called a “show window.” This underscores a marketing concept proffered during the 1920’s commercial boom: that dramatic display was essential in capturing hearts, minds, and pocketbooks. After all, footwear, groceries, and even bathroom fixtures sold better when exhibited in brilliantly illuminated window displays, and diners’ mouths were more likely to water when they saw others devouring their blue-plate specials.
The quintessential storefront was not designed merely as a showroom where merchandise was mechanically arranged and formulaically displayed. Instead, this brightly lit transformative space was conceived as a majestic platform, like a proscenium stage, where products would enthrall through all manner of arresting performances. Product displays veritably beckoned the audience to come onstage or backstage, and instead of ovations, the audience was encouraged to consume. As the storefront evolved over time, from simple window dressing to grand fourth wall, elaborate tableau framed by lush architectural details heightened the viewers’ anticipation - and desire.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
In Nighthawks, Edward Hopper’s 1942 moody masterpiece, patrons sit like mannequins around the counter of an unnamed restaurant. A fishbowl window frames the quiet interaction between three customers - two men and one woman - and the counter attendant, frozen in time. At once compelling visual poetry about loneliness and malaise, this painting also evokes a decidedly unintended additional message, promoting virtues of the welldesigned modern American storefront.
Although blasphemous to reduce such a tour de force of 20th century American art to a pitch for commercial architecture, Hopper was so acutely aware of the distinction between simple shopwindows and monumental storefronts that this painting could be viewed as product placement for both the plate-glass industry and the storefront style known as the “Visual Front.” If Nighthawks had originally been created as a trade magazine advertisement for a glass company or architectural firm, no self-respecting, retail-savvy merchant could ignore the implicit notion that unfettered window display equals increased business.
Hopper had no intention of selling storefronts. But he used these windows to compose a picture within a picture, making the storefront both frame and image, and the entire city a kind of übergallery in which the picture hangs. Taken a step further, and given the way scheming minds of strategic marketers work, if products could be seen as attainable artworks in this urban gallery, then there was no better way to reach out to the consumer than by using what in industry speak is called a “show window.” This underscores a marketing concept proffered during the 1920’s commercial boom: that dramatic display was essential in capturing hearts, minds, and pocketbooks. After all, footwear, groceries, and even bathroom fixtures sold better when exhibited in brilliantly illuminated window displays, and diners’ mouths were more likely to water when they saw others devouring their blue-plate specials.
The quintessential storefront was not designed merely as a showroom where merchandise was mechanically arranged and formulaically displayed. Instead, this brightly lit transformative space was conceived as a majestic platform, like a proscenium stage, where products would enthrall through all manner of arresting performances. Product displays veritably beckoned the audience to come onstage or backstage, and instead of ovations, the audience was encouraged to consume. As the storefront evolved over time, from simple window dressing to grand fourth wall, elaborate tableau framed by lush architectural details heightened the viewers’ anticipation - and desire.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Shop America. Midcentury Storefront Design 1938-1950
Hardcover, 26.5 x 34 cm (10.4 x 13.4 in.), 246 pages
$ 59.99
$ 59.99
Window shopping
A catalog rendering for a men’s furnishings shop featured an exterior display case and floor-to-ceiling windows for maximum visibility, 1941
By the late 1940s, midcentury modern was taking hold, as evidenced in this restaurant rendering, 1949