ABSTRACT
From 1930 onwards, ocean liner interiors gradually developed away from the
revivalism of the earlier twentieth century, towards a more modern and self-
consciously contemporary style. It is tempting to polarize this period of ship interior
design as a battle of styles, between reforming modernism and intransigent
periodization. However, the shift was gradual and the themes of national identities
and the growing professionalization of design practice are just as significant to an
understanding of the history of the interior design of liners of this era. Frequently,
ships of this period were a blend of modernism, art deco and streamlining with
touches of humour and wit, luxury and glamour. The designer interior was in the
ascendancy in this period, whereby the modern architect would have complete
control over the décor, most notably with the Orient Line’s Orion. This type of interior was to rise in prominence, and begin to eclipse the role of the decorating firm and also
the influence of the ‘Chairman’s wife’. This growing hegemony can best be understood
as part of the professionalization of interior design, which marginalized women and
decoration, and privileged modernism and the male designer. The move also reflected
a prejudice against French art deco. As a result of the decline in emigration to North
America and the concurrent rise in the popularity of cruising, liner design began to
feature permeable divisions between outside and inside. Beginning with the German
Bremen, moving through the French Normandie and British Queen Mary, there was a quest to use designers on behalf of the line owners to express national identities to the
world and create the most appealing and fashionable surroundings for travel and
leisure in an increasingly competitive market. As Adrian Forty has argued: ‘No design
works unless it embodies ideas that are held in common by the people for whom the
object is intended’ (Forty 1986: 245).
