The thirties P r att p r e va i l s d e s p i t e e c o n o m i c
1930 Mahatma Gandhi walks 200 miles to make salt from the Dandi Sea as protest against the British monopoly on salt production.
s ta g n at i o n a n d e s ta bl i s h e s i t s r e p u tat i o n a s a c u lt u r a l f o r c e i n d e s i g n .
D
uring the 1930s, the world struggled through a crippling depression and witnessed the rise of Fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism. Fearing these repressive regimes, artists and intellectuals fled Europe in droves. Many of Pratt’s legendary faculty, such as printmaker Fritz Eichenberg, graphic designer Will Burtin, and ceramicist Eva Zeisel, were among these early émigrés. However, it was not just the influx of European talent that transformed the Pratt educational experience. The thirties also proved to be a seminal decade for Pratt’s design programs. The devastating slide into financial crisis rattled the nation’s confidence and drove down consumer spending. Inventive and appealing design in all areas, from the chicest apparel to the handiest appliances, became the antidote to declining sales. To lure reluctant consumers back into the stores, the Art School created a new program dedicated to advertising design. Pratt already sent a steady stream of illustrators to work for book publishers and major magazines. The advertising design department, led by William Longyear, an expert on modern typography, concentrated on helping manufacturers differentiate their products and promote themselves as major brands. Pratt’s graphic design efforts were propelled forward by the arrival of Will Burtin. A pioneering graphic designer, Burtin and his Jewish wife, Hilde, barely escaped their native Germany after evading repeated demands—including a personal appeal from Hitler—to work for Joseph Goebbels’s propaganda ministry. Shortly after arriving in the United States, Burtin joined Pratt’s art department and began teaching his revolutionary ideas for total communication design, a concept that later became known as corporate branding. Another émigré, Alexander Kostellow, came to Pratt from Berlin—but with a critical stop in Pittsburgh before arriving in Brooklyn. A painter and art educator, Kostellow and his wife,
1931 Pratt holds its first Senior Dance at The Roosevelt Hotel. 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt ushers in The New Deal. 1935 The first canned beer is sold in Richmond, Virginia, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio. 1936 The Library School becomes the first division to grant a bachelor of science degree to graduates. 1937 The Golden Gate Bridge opens in San Francisco. 1937 Frederic B. Pratt retires. Charles M. Pratt, son of the founder, becomes the first president of the Institute. 1938 The Art School holds its 51st annual exhibit at the newly opened Rockefeller Center. 1939 U.S. maintains neutrality as World War II begins.
125 anniversary pr attfolio
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