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Midcentury Design - American National Exhibition, Moscow 1959: American National Exhibition, Moscow 1959

This is a guide dedicated to the influential American National Exhibition, held in Moscow during July-September, 1959.

American National Exhibition

George Nelson Foundation > Exhibitions
Floor plan of the American National Exhibition in Moscow. George Nelson and Company.

Books

George Nelson : the design of modern design by Stanley Abercrombie
Call Number: NK1412.N45 A24 1995
Publication Date: 1995
Cultural Babbage : technology, time, and invention by Francis Spufford; Jennifer S Uglow
Publication Date: 1996
Available for eBook loan via Internet Archive.
Relevancy: pages 167 - 192, Buckminster Fuller and Domes
Buckminster Fuller: designing for mobility by Michael John Gorman
Call Number: TA140.F85 G67 2005
ISBN: 8876242651
Publication Date: 2005
George Nelson : architect, writer, designer, teacher
Call Number: NK1412.N45 A4 2008
ISBN: 9783931936822
Publication Date: 2008
Cold War Confrontation: US Exhibitions and their Role in the Cultural Cold War by Jack Masey, Conway Lloyd Morgan
Publication Date: 2008
Relevancy: Pages 152 - 282.
Six Weeks in Sokolniki Park: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of The American National Exhibition in Moscow 1959 by Donald M Kendall, John Beyrle, Eugene Staples
Publication Date: 2009
Relevancy: pages 6 - 11. Images and small blocks of text, pages 19 - 51.
Cold war on the home front : the soft power of midcentury design by Greg Castillo
Publication Date: 2010
Relevancy: pages 111 - 170; trades, exhibitions, & interior design as well as specifics on the Exhibition
The Kitchen Debate and Cold War Consumer Politics by Sarah T. Phillips and Shane Hamilton
Publication Date: 2014

Journal Articles

"Moscow looks at U.S. architecture: American National Exhibition, Moscow"
Architectural Forum, September 1959, v. 111, p. 110-113
"Plastic parasols, American National Exhibition, Moscow, U.S.S.R"
Architectural Record, November 1959, p. 238-241
"Russian rigor: Site-planning the Moscow Exhibition"
Landscape Architecture, Spring 1960, v. 50, p. 164-169
Enclosed by Images: The Eameses' Multimedia Architecture
Grey Room, No. 2 (Winter, 2001), pp. 5-29, Published by MIT Press
Efficacy and Evidence: Evaluating U.S. Goals at the American National Exhibition in Moscow, 1959
Mickiewicz, Ellen. Journal of Cold War Studies, vol. 13, no. 4, 2011, pp. 138–71.

Websites

George Nelson Foundation
Description of the exhibition, the buildings built specifically for the exhibition, and the art exhibited there.
"Fifty Years Ago, American Exhibition Stunned Soviets in Cold War"
Radio Free Europe|Radio Liberty article by Gregory Feifer, July 23, 2009
Eames Office
Description of Charles and Ray Eames' film Glimpses of the U.S.A.
"Facts about the American National Exhibition in Moscow"
Description of all the different components of the exhibition and areas of the park.

Videos/Streaming Films

Begin film at 1:46, images of the Exhibition dome.

Lucia DeRespinis: Begin at 47 minutes for info about her involvement with the Exhibition (she worked in George Nelson's office). Listen to whole hour - a remarkable professional designer.

ITP 55: Lucia DeRespinis from Inside The Phoenix on Vimeo.

Pennebaker Hegedus Films
Unavailable online. May be available through interlibrary loan. Focus is primarily on Russian life more than the Exhibition.

Images

Open the image group below and choose which ones you want to download from our Artstor/JSTOR database.

American National Exhibition: 37 images
Architectural drawings (site plan, elevation, section, design drawings, exhibition plan), and exterior and interior photos
Domes (Buckminster Fuller): 23 images
Architectural drawings and exterior and interior photos

Artstor digital images are provided for academic research.

North Carolina State University Image Database
Use search terms: buckminster AND moscow

Last Updated: Jul 10, 2024 3:15 PM
URL: https://the-bac.libguides.com/american-natl-expo
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Subjects: Art movements, Exhibition buildings, Housing

Tags: design, Leisurama, Mid-century Modern