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[Photographs of Late-1920's to Early-1930's Cadillacs]
[Photographs of Late-1920's to Early-1930's Cadillacs]
A substantial group of original period photography documenting circa-1928 to 1931 model year Cadillac and LaSalle automobiles. We believe these to be internal General Motors (GM) photographs used for publication consideration or reference, likely by its Art and Colour Section, founded in 1927 and headed by important American designer, Harley Earl. Earl’s first work for GM was on the 1928 Cadillac and 1928 LaSalle (a lower-priced brand of the Cadillac division), both of which are represented here. The sales success of these models saw Art and Colour become integral across GM, growing into General Motors Styling, the first in-house design department at an American automaker and the largest design studio in the world.
The models photographed here represent some of the most heralded examples of this important and pioneering Earl-led design work. Models span the budget-friendly LaSalles, to the luxury behemoth Cadillac limousines of the early 1930s (including at least three views of the first “Madam X” model of 1930). Settings are most often industrial, likely GM facilities, though several capture what we suspect are one or more of the many auto salons where new models were first publicly displayed (1928 saw such events at luxury hotels in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco).
Original internal Cadillac division photography from this era is scarce to encounter and the present archive provides an exceptional document of an automotive product line integral to the dawn of modern American design. A copy of automotive historian Tracy Powell’s essential and out-of-print 2007 history of GM Styling (GENERAL MOTORS STYLING 1927-1958: Genesis of the World’s Largest Design Studio) is included here as well. A few representative scans are shown here, please contact us directly if you’d like to see more.
[Automobilia] : [Design] : [Photography]. [Photographs of Late-1920's to Early-1930's Cadillacs]. [Detroit, Michigan]: [ca. 1928-1931]. 76 black and white silver print photographs. Each approximately 8" x 10" bordered prints on single weight, typically glossy, paper stock. Prints in 19 different glassine envelopes (as-acquired by us). All prints with substantial adhesive and material residue to versos from a previous mounting (possibly in an album or to board). A mild edge curling to most, a few with small sections of edge or corner loss. Overall group good or better.
A substantial group of original period photography documenting circa-1928 to 1931 model year Cadillac and LaSalle automobiles. We believe these to be internal General Motors (GM) photographs used for publication consideration or reference, likely by its Art and Colour Section, founded in 1927 and headed by important American designer, Harley Earl. Earl’s first work for GM was on the 1928 Cadillac and 1928 LaSalle (a lower-priced brand of the Cadillac division), both of which are represented here. The sales success of these models saw Art and Colour become integral across GM, growing into General Motors Styling, the first in-house design department at an American automaker and the largest design studio in the world.
The models photographed here represent some of the most heralded examples of this important and pioneering Earl-led design work. Models span the budget-friendly LaSalles, to the luxury behemoth Cadillac limousines of the early 1930s (including at least three views of the first “Madam X” model of 1930). Settings are most often industrial, likely GM facilities, though several capture what we suspect are one or more of the many auto salons where new models were first publicly displayed (1928 saw such events at luxury hotels in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco).
Original internal Cadillac division photography from this era is scarce to encounter and the present archive provides an exceptional document of an automotive product line integral to the dawn of modern American design. A copy of automotive historian Tracy Powell’s essential and out-of-print 2007 history of GM Styling (GENERAL MOTORS STYLING 1927-1958: Genesis of the World’s Largest Design Studio) is included here as well. A few representative scans are shown here, please contact us directly if you’d like to see more.
[Automobilia] : [Design] : [Photography]. [Photographs of Late-1920's to Early-1930's Cadillacs]. [Detroit, Michigan]: [ca. 1928-1931]. 76 black and white silver print photographs. Each approximately 8" x 10" bordered prints on single weight, typically glossy, paper stock. Prints in 19 different glassine envelopes (as-acquired by us). All prints with substantial adhesive and material residue to versos from a previous mounting (possibly in an album or to board). A mild edge curling to most, a few with small sections of edge or corner loss. Overall group good or better.