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For immediate release Contact: Sara Bemiller, 540-344-8499 sara@accessthewebsite.com
Raymond Loewy Gallery to
open in O.
Roanoke, Va., August 31, 2006—On Sept. 23, a gallery devoted to “the father of industrial design”
will open in a railway station that Raymond Loewy himself designed almost 60
years ago.
The
former N&W Railway passenger station, which now houses The O. Winston Link
Museum, was redesigned in 1949 when N&W (now
Loewy’s
designs have become cultural icons and include the slenderized Coca Cola bottle
and dispenser, the Studebaker Avanti, the U. S. Postal Service seal, NASA’s
Apollo Skylab interior, a Greyhound Bus and logos for Shell, BP and Exxon.
Keenly
interested in transportation design, Loewy advocated fuel-efficient cars and
lower-maintenance locomotives. His first
railroad industry design was the aerodynamic GG-1, the first welded locomotive
ever built. It was the first of many
designs he would complete for the Pennsylvania Railroad and for the N&W
Railway.
The
N&W Railway’s passenger station was one of Loewy’s few public building
projects. A classically proportioned
example of Art Moderne architectural style, the station’s renovated interior
retains the Loewy-designed sleek lines, brushed aluminum surfaces and terrazzo
floors.
Many of O. Winston Link’s critically acclaimed
photographs of the final days of steam locomotion were shot in and around the Loewy-designed passenger station
which now will be devoted to the genius of both men.
The O. Winston Link Museum’s Raymond Loewy Gallery
will emphasize Loewy’s transportation design and will be the only permanent
gallery devoted to his work. Artifacts
for the gallery have been collected from numerous sources including Loewy’s
family, the U. S. Postal Service, and the Hagley Museum & Library in
Artifacts and gallery features include:
§
RAYMOND LOEWY LOVED
LOCOMOTIVES, a new documentary film
§
Models of Air
Force One and Studebaker Avanti
§
Large-scale
model of the GG-1 locomotive
§
Photos and
renderings of various Loewy designs
§
Perforated
metal display panels replicating elements originally used in the Loewy-designed
N&W Railway passenger station
(more…)
Laurence Loewy, the designer’s daughter, will be
present at the Sept. 23 opening, which runs from
The
1717 Design Group, the Richmond, Va.-based firm that designed the
The
O. Winston Link Museum, at
O.
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