Selling the American Dream: MoMA, Industrial Design and Post-War France

Abstract

This archival investigation uses as a case study the Museum of Modern Art’s “50 Years of American Art” (1955) to assess the role of MoMA and the U.S. Government in promoting American industrial design within France during the cold war. The author asserts that these powerful institutions came to view such wares as a vital means of quelling growing fears of American cultural homogenization within France. The paper investigates how through “50 Years of American Art” the exhibition organizers sought to build support for an American way of life enhanced by a merger between some of the nation’s leading creative talents and its vast technological might. Fostering the development of markets and a new identity and desire for such goods within France represented a parallel mission of these institutions.