Object Timeline

1952

  • Work on this object began.

2017

  • We acquired this object.

2018

2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Interior Concept

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Bill Brownlie and from the office of Chrysler Corporation. It is dated 1952 and we acquired it in 2017. Its medium is airbrush and ink, color pencil on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Bill Brownlie, a long-time designer for Chrysler, drafted this interior concept for a truck cab in 1951. His sectional depiction of the interior is composed to provide viewers with a glimpse into the passenger's side. The paper's black background gives way to the fine red outline of the cab and finally to a fully illustrated, polychromatic rendering of the interior. The juxtaposition of the background and the uncannily pristine interior, elevates the vehicle and its unseen driver to characters in an earnest narrative on post-war American prosperity and middle class values.

It is credited Museum purchase through gift of Paul Herzan and from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.

Its dimensions are

63.5 × 49.5 cm (25 in. × 19 1/2 in.)

It is signed

Signed in red color pencil, lower right: Brownlie 1-8-52

Cite this object as

Drawing, Interior Concept; Designed by Bill Brownlie (American, active mid-20th century); Office of Chrysler Corporation (United States); airbrush and ink, color pencil on paper; 63.5 × 49.5 cm (25 in. × 19 1/2 in.); Museum purchase through gift of Paul Herzan and from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 2017-18-9

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1108798009/ |title=Drawing, Interior Concept |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>