Untitled (home appliance showroom) 1941

Curator: This is John Deusing's "Untitled (home appliance showroom)" from the Harvard Art Museums collection. It's a silver gelatin print, roughly 8 by 10 inches. Editor: The image is striking, yet strangely sterile. The repetition of forms—refrigerators, cabinets—creates a very rigid, almost unsettling composition. Curator: Indeed. The modularity speaks to mass production and the post-war boom. We see the aspirational lifestyle marketed through gleaming appliances, promising modernity. Editor: The lighting emphasizes the geometric shapes and lines, reducing the objects to their essential forms. There's a strong sense of order, perhaps even control. Curator: Consider the socio-economic implications. Home appliances represented progress, yet access was dictated by class and race. This idealized showroom excludes certain realities. Editor: I see the high contrast and sharp focus as serving to emphasize the artificiality and surface texture of what is on display, revealing the constructed nature of desire. Curator: Absolutely. It is a fascinating study in the visual language of advertising and the societal forces that shape consumer culture. Editor: A powerful, thought-provoking piece that offers a glimpse into the past and prompts reflection on the present.