Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1952

  • Work on this object began.

2023

2025

  • You found it!

Photograph, SS United States First Class Observation Lounge

This is a Photograph. It was created by Raymond Wendell and designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes and interior designer: Smyth, Urquhart, & Marckwald. It is dated 1952. Its medium is reproduction. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.


Throughout the ship, the sea was the predominant decorative motif. In two large murals for the First Class Observation Lounge, artist Raymond Wendell deployed a rich palette of blues highlighted with gold leaf to represent the underwater topography of the North Atlantic Ocean, with applied bronze arrows reminiscent of flying fish showing the direction of prevailing winds and currents.

It is credited Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

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://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318807761/ |title=Photograph, SS United States First Class Observation Lounge |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>