General Electric
Artist
Walter L. Greene
United States, 1870 - 1956
Datec. 1935
MediumLithograph
Dimensions40 1/4 x 26 1/2 in. (102.2 x 67.3 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.7704
DescriptionWhile private companies that specialized in electrical appliances (like General Electric) had made attempts to expand their consumer base in rural areas as far back as the 1880s, their efforts had been largely unsuccessful. The biggest hurdle, apart from consumer resistance, was the difficulty in generating enough volts of power that were sustainable over long distances (most urban systems could only maintain enough voltage for about four miles), making most of their advertising futile. This design highlights a hydroelectric dam, not dissimilar to those built in the early 1930s by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a New Deal agency created to develop electricity infrastructure (and therefore low-cost power) and jobs in Appalachia. The compositional differences between this poster by Walter L. Greene and those designed by Lester Beall for the REA are stark. Greene’s poster embraces the classic illustrational style favored by the majority of American poster artists at this time. He also designed numerous posters for the New York Central Railroad, all of which feature similarly bucolic vistas that modernists would have considered “nostalgic” or “quaint” rather than progressive.On View
Not on view
