‘Cold War Transnational Design: Russel Wright and “Asian Modern”’

Russel Wright was an American designer who promoted American Modern design and the Good Design movement from the 1930s through the 1950s. While he is well known in the American design context, his involvement in promoting the idea of “Asian Modern” design in the postwar period through the U.S. foreign aid program in Asia is little known. My presentation introduces Wright’s design interventions in countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s, and argues that Asia played an important role in Cold War cultural diplomacy and in defining a modern American design identity. The paper aims to enhance our understanding of the interdependence and entanglement of American and Asian design developments during the Cold War period, with a particular focus on the idea and style of Asian Modern.

Invited speaker presenting a paper for ‘Shifting the Terrain: Mapping a Transnational American Art History’ symposium organised by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Terra Foundation.

Webcast: presentation is in session 3, starting minute 47:30.