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Otto Kuhler

April 10, 2024

Otto August Kuhler (July 31, 1894 – August 5, 1977) was an American designer, one of the best known industrial designers of the American railroads. According to Trains magazine he streamstyled more locomotives and railroad cars than Cret, Dreyfuss and Loewy combined. His extensive concepts for the modernization of the American railroads have repercussions onto the railways worldwide until today. In addition he was a prolific artist of industrial aesthetics and of the American West in general.

Otto Kuhler
Otto Kuhler at Chicago Union Station in 1935
BornJuly 31, 1894
Remscheid, German Empire
DiedAugust 5, 1977 (aged 83)
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
OccupationIndustrial designer
Spouse
Simonne Gillot Kuhler
​
​
(m. 1936)​
Children

Kuhler (pronounced "Cooler") became a US citizen in 1928. Eight years before he had married Simonne Gillot, daughter of a Belgian doctor. They had one daughter, Winona (married name: Zabriskie), and one son, Renaldo, who became known as a natural-history museum artist.

Early life edit

Kuhler was born in Remscheid[1] near Essen, Germany the only child in an anvil casters' family. He was determined to study electrical engineering, but returning from an early school exchange with Belgium he showed a conspicuous drawing talent. At age 19 he was commissioned to illustrate a catalog of steam locomobiles. He served in the German Army during World War I, was suspended because of an automobile accident, but called up again to command a logging railway troop in Belgium, where he met his future wife.

Early work edit

His automobile body design sent in to Kathe & Soehne for a Mercedes chassis won a gold medal in 1913. Employed as a stylist with N.A.G. Berlin he designed movie sets for William Wauer's silent film "The Tunnel." He became associate editor of "Der Motor" magazine, and then styled car bodies for Snutsel Père&Fils (Brussels) and European automobile producers. Influenced by the art of Pennell he learned etching after World War I and enrolled at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf. After emigration to the US in 1923 he worked as a commercial artist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His works centered on industrial landscapes, steel works and locomotives.

Brill Company edit

Kuhler opened a Manhattan studio in 1928 and using the media promoted streamstyling of the antiquated railroads for more passenger appeal, only to be quashed by Wall Street Crash of 1929. Three years later he got an assignment at J. G. Brill and Company for Union Pacific Railroad's competition leading to the streamliner M-10000 and won by Pullman. For Brill he also styled their PCC trolley prototype for Chicago and later the "Rebel" power cars for Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad. Parent company American Car & Foundry used Kuhler to style its growing line of motorrailers throughout the 1930s culminating in the double-ended rail motor cars for the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway in 1940 and for Boston's Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1946.

American Locomotive edit

 
ALCO 4-6-4 class F7 steam locomotive streamstyled by Otto Kuhler for Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha trains

The American Locomotive Company (ALCO) assigned Kuhler to its advertising department in 1931 and commissioned him as a design consultant the following year. His first task was restyling the exterior trim of ALCO's Diesel switcher HH600 that persisted through all following variants. The next task established Kuhler's worldwide fame. The Milwaukee Road wanted a high-speed train for the competitive route between Chicago and Minneapolis. The cars were built in the company's shops, and the four A class locomotives were built by ALCO. Kuhler embellished their inverted bathtub look by a carefully colored livery. These Hiawatha trains became the fastest passenger service in the world by 1935. He had also designed the cars' interior, including the napkins and draperies in the dining car. His finned Beaver Tail observation car of the next generation was sensational, as were again the streamlined second-generation Milwaukee Road class F7 4-6-4 passenger locomotives designed by Kuhler. He also designed the ALCO DL-109, the predecessor of world-famous ALCO PA diesel locomotives, as well as the Southern Railway (U.S.) PS-4 class number 1380's streamlined appearance for The Tennessean in 1941, thus making it the Southern's only streamlined steam engine.

Baltimore & Ohio edit

 
B&O logo by Otto Kuhler.

As art director of the B&O magazine Kuhler was instrumental in developing the blue and gray color scheme and the modernized herald of B&O. When B&O turned to streamlining its Washington-New York run Kuhler could finally establish his "bullet nose" design on a steam locomotive that became known as "Kuhler type". The "Kuhler type" locomotive pulled the famous Royal Blue train (as an ultimate compliment Raymond Loewy later used a bullet nose on the giant engine S-1 for the New-York World Fair). Since the B&O run ended in Jersey City passengers were transferred to Manhattan by White Motor Co. buses that were styled by Kuhler, and provided with air conditioning using ice. Kuhler's three-man office (assistants James Henderson Barr and Henry A. Nau) continued to streamstyle steam locomotives of ALCO clients with one exception: New Haven's I-5 Class 4-6-4 locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1937. For the Lehigh Valley Railroad he streamstyled engine plus cars of the John Wilkes and related trains - arguably the most interesting Kuhler locomotive. As a consultant to the railroads' architectural departments Kuhler helped modernizing nine stations, including Des Moines, Iowa, of Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, of the Milwaukee Road.

American Car & Foundry edit

The onset of World War II meant a suspension to improvements in passenger comfort. Kuhler styled the diesel locomotive DL-109 by ALCO, and the New Haven Railroad was allowed by the War Production Board to order 60 more. Now limitation on railway design and Kuhler's German accent proved to be a disadvantage a sure sign being that he never got paid for his last streamstyling job of a steam locomotive for Southern Railway - in his own judgment his best design. Finally Kuhler had to abandon free-lancing and to enter a position at American Car & Foundry (ACF) in 1944 where he developed double-deck sleepers, subway cars with standee windows and more. Most of his patents were applied for while at ACF. In 1947 he was given his termination notice in one of the many reshuffles at ACF.

Farming and painting edit

The Kuhlers sold their home with studio on a hill near Blauvelt, New York, and bought a 460-acre ranch (the KZ Ranch) straddling Deer Creek near Bailey, Colorado. Cattle raising and painting the West were now on Kuhler's agenda, the fruits of which can be seen in many American museums. Kuhler found beauty in industrial scenes, ranging from mines and factories to railroads, and he painted them with intricate attention to detail and accuracy. The Kuhler's farmhouse burned down and was rebuilt by them. At age 75 he sold the farm and moved with Simonne to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1969 to continue painting. Eight years later they moved back to Denver, Colorado, where Kuhler died at age 83. Currently, some of his work can be seen at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, CO. Other Kuhler paintings are owned by the New Mexico Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, University of Missouri at St. Louis, Henry Ford Museum, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Denver Public Library in Denver, Colorado, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the Roentgen Museum in Remscheid, Germany. The Denver Public Library collection includes 12 Kuhler oils donated by his wife that depict mining and railroad scenes in Colorado.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Kuhler designs edit

 
Kuhler's patent of subway car filed 1947 (copied by NYC R11)

References edit

  1. ^ Merrill, Peter C. (1997). German Immigrant Artists in America: A Biographical Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810832664.
  2. ^ "SAM searchable Art Museum". New Mexico Museum of Art. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  3. ^ Kuhler, Otto. My Iron Journey: A Life with Steam and Steel, p. 243, Intermountain Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Denver, Colorado, 1967.
  4. ^ "Railway Excursion Centennial Will be Marked on Tuesday," Gazette-Telegraph, p. 12D, October 24, 1971, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
  5. ^ "Bound for Colorado Springs," Gazette-Telegraph, p. 14CC, May 14, 1972, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
  6. ^ "Cattlemen's Centennial Medal," Windsor Beacon, p. 3, May 4, 1967, Windsor, Colorado.
  7. ^ "Varied Prizes for Empire's Opening Thursday," Greeley Tribune, p. 8, March 2, 1960, Greeley, Colorado.

Bibliography edit

  • "Streamlining the Railroads". Product Engineering, June 1934
  • "What Price Beauty of Line and Color". Metal Progress, August 1934
  • "Stil und Werbung im Eisenbahnwesen", Verkehrswirtschaftliche Rundschau (Vienna), August 1935
  • "Appeal Design in Railroad Equipment", Railway Age, November 30, 1935
  • Portraits of the Iron Horse (with Robert S. Henry, 1937; reprinted 1976)
  • On the Railroad (by Robert S.Henry, illustrated by Kuhler; 1938)
  • In the Steel Mill(with Donald Wilhelm; 1939)
  • My Iron Journey - an autobiography (1967, 2nd edition 1978)
  • The etchings of Otto Kuhler, Kennedy Galleries, New York 1985
  • How We Make Steel, Otto Kuhler, 1939
  • The Colorado Road: History, Motive Power and Equipment of the Colorado & Southern and Ft. Worth & Denver, by F. Hol Wagner, Jr.

External links edit

  • The Hiawatha Room at Coffeedrome
  • Coal Burners by Otto Kuhler
  • Colorado Railroad Museum website
  • Railroad Art by Otto August Kuhler

April 10, 2024
otto, kuhler, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, february, 201. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Otto Kuhler news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Otto August Kuhler July 31 1894 August 5 1977 was an American designer one of the best known industrial designers of the American railroads According to Trains magazine he streamstyled more locomotives and railroad cars than Cret Dreyfuss and Loewy combined His extensive concepts for the modernization of the American railroads have repercussions onto the railways worldwide until today In addition he was a prolific artist of industrial aesthetics and of the American West in general Otto KuhlerOtto Kuhler at Chicago Union Station in 1935BornJuly 31 1894Remscheid German EmpireDiedAugust 5 1977 aged 83 Denver Colorado U S OccupationIndustrial designerSpouseSimonne Gillot Kuhler m 1936 wbr ChildrenWinona RenaldoKuhler pronounced Cooler became a US citizen in 1928 Eight years before he had married Simonne Gillot daughter of a Belgian doctor They had one daughter Winona married name Zabriskie and one son Renaldo who became known as a natural history museum artist Contents 1 Early life 2 Early work 3 Brill Company 4 American Locomotive 5 Baltimore amp Ohio 6 American Car amp Foundry 7 Farming and painting 8 Kuhler designs 9 References 10 Bibliography 11 External linksEarly life editKuhler was born in Remscheid 1 near Essen Germany the only child in an anvil casters family He was determined to study electrical engineering but returning from an early school exchange with Belgium he showed a conspicuous drawing talent At age 19 he was commissioned to illustrate a catalog of steam locomobiles He served in the German Army during World War I was suspended because of an automobile accident but called up again to command a logging railway troop in Belgium where he met his future wife Early work editHis automobile body design sent in to Kathe amp Soehne for a Mercedes chassis won a gold medal in 1913 Employed as a stylist with N A G Berlin he designed movie sets for William Wauer s silent film The Tunnel He became associate editor of Der Motor magazine and then styled car bodies for Snutsel Pere amp Fils Brussels and European automobile producers Influenced by the art of Pennell he learned etching after World War I and enrolled at the Academy of Art in Dusseldorf After emigration to the US in 1923 he worked as a commercial artist in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania His works centered on industrial landscapes steel works and locomotives Brill Company editKuhler opened a Manhattan studio in 1928 and using the media promoted streamstyling of the antiquated railroads for more passenger appeal only to be quashed by Wall Street Crash of 1929 Three years later he got an assignment at J G Brill and Company for Union Pacific Railroad s competition leading to the streamliner M 10000 and won by Pullman For Brill he also styled their PCC trolley prototype for Chicago and later the Rebel power cars for Gulf Mobile and Northern Railroad Parent company American Car amp Foundry used Kuhler to style its growing line of motorrailers throughout the 1930s culminating in the double ended rail motor cars for the New York Susquehanna and Western Railway in 1940 and for Boston s Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1946 American Locomotive edit nbsp ALCO 4 6 4 class F7 steam locomotive streamstyled by Otto Kuhler for Milwaukee Road s Hiawatha trainsThe American Locomotive Company ALCO assigned Kuhler to its advertising department in 1931 and commissioned him as a design consultant the following year His first task was restyling the exterior trim of ALCO s Diesel switcher HH600 that persisted through all following variants The next task established Kuhler s worldwide fame The Milwaukee Road wanted a high speed train for the competitive route between Chicago and Minneapolis The cars were built in the company s shops and the four A class locomotives were built by ALCO Kuhler embellished their inverted bathtub look by a carefully colored livery These Hiawatha trains became the fastest passenger service in the world by 1935 He had also designed the cars interior including the napkins and draperies in the dining car His finned Beaver Tail observation car of the next generation was sensational as were again the streamlined second generation Milwaukee Road class F7 4 6 4 passenger locomotives designed by Kuhler He also designed the ALCO DL 109 the predecessor of world famous ALCO PA diesel locomotives as well as the Southern Railway U S PS 4 class number 1380 s streamlined appearance for The Tennessean in 1941 thus making it the Southern s only streamlined steam engine Baltimore amp Ohio edit nbsp B amp O logo by Otto Kuhler As art director of the B amp O magazine Kuhler was instrumental in developing the blue and gray color scheme and the modernized herald of B amp O When B amp O turned to streamlining its Washington New York run Kuhler could finally establish his bullet nose design on a steam locomotive that became known as Kuhler type The Kuhler type locomotive pulled the famous Royal Blue train as an ultimate compliment Raymond Loewy later used a bullet nose on the giant engine S 1 for the New York World Fair Since the B amp O run ended in Jersey City passengers were transferred to Manhattan by White Motor Co buses that were styled by Kuhler and provided with air conditioning using ice Kuhler s three man office assistants James Henderson Barr and Henry A Nau continued to streamstyle steam locomotives of ALCO clients with one exception New Haven s I 5 Class 4 6 4 locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1937 For the Lehigh Valley Railroad he streamstyled engine plus cars of the John Wilkes and related trains arguably the most interesting Kuhler locomotive As a consultant to the railroads architectural departments Kuhler helped modernizing nine stations including Des Moines Iowa of Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railroad and Milwaukee Wisconsin of the Milwaukee Road American Car amp Foundry editThe onset of World War II meant a suspension to improvements in passenger comfort Kuhler styled the diesel locomotive DL 109 by ALCO and the New Haven Railroad was allowed by the War Production Board to order 60 more Now limitation on railway design and Kuhler s German accent proved to be a disadvantage a sure sign being that he never got paid for his last streamstyling job of a steam locomotive for Southern Railway in his own judgment his best design Finally Kuhler had to abandon free lancing and to enter a position at American Car amp Foundry ACF in 1944 where he developed double deck sleepers subway cars with standee windows and more Most of his patents were applied for while at ACF In 1947 he was given his termination notice in one of the many reshuffles at ACF Farming and painting editThe Kuhlers sold their home with studio on a hill near Blauvelt New York and bought a 460 acre ranch the KZ Ranch straddling Deer Creek near Bailey Colorado Cattle raising and painting the West were now on Kuhler s agenda the fruits of which can be seen in many American museums Kuhler found beauty in industrial scenes ranging from mines and factories to railroads and he painted them with intricate attention to detail and accuracy The Kuhler s farmhouse burned down and was rebuilt by them At age 75 he sold the farm and moved with Simonne to Santa Fe New Mexico in 1969 to continue painting Eight years later they moved back to Denver Colorado where Kuhler died at age 83 Currently some of his work can be seen at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden CO Other Kuhler paintings are owned by the New Mexico Museum of Art Brooklyn Museum University of Missouri at St Louis Henry Ford Museum Westmoreland Museum of American Art Denver Public Library in Denver Colorado Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Roentgen Museum in Remscheid Germany The Denver Public Library collection includes 12 Kuhler oils donated by his wife that depict mining and railroad scenes in Colorado 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kuhler designs edit nbsp Kuhler s patent of subway car filed 1947 copied by NYC R11 Automobile bodies for Kathe amp Soehne Austro Daimler N A G Snutsel Delage Fiat and Hansa 1913 18 Streamline concept published for conventional J 1 steam loco of New York Central 1928 ALCO HH600 diesel switcher shape kept with following switcher generations like S 1 1934 ACF ALCO non articulated power cars The Rebel for Gulf Mobile and Northern Railroad 1934 plus more ACF motorailers J G Brill prototype 7001 of PCC streetcar for Chicago 1935 ALCO Milwaukee Road class A streamlined steam locos plus Hiawatha trains of Milwaukee Road 1935 Remington Combined Automatic Typewriter and Stand 1936 US patent D103 459 Color scheme for Mountaineer Limited of New York Ontario and Western Railway 1937 Color scheme logo and streamstyled loco P 7 5304 plus train for B amp O s Royal Blue and more 1937 White Motor Co buses for passenger transfer of B amp O exterior trim and interior design of subway cars Pittsburgh Pressed Steel Car Company for City of Philadelphia Baldwin I 5 class steam locos for Shoreliner of New York New Haven and Hartford Railroad 1937 ALCO Milwaukee Road class F7 steam locos and Hiawatha trains of Milwaukee Road 1938 with finned observation car Redecoration of doodlebug 17 Osgood Bradley for Lehigh Valley Railroad 1938 Exterior trim and interior design of train Asa Packer for Lehigh Valley 1938 Streamstyled steam locos K 5 plus train John Wilkes and Black Diamond for Lehigh Valley Railroad 1939 ALCO DL 109 diesel locos in part with DL 110 booster 1940 successor PA 1 inherited many features Full train styling of Gulf Coast Rebel pulled by DL 109 for GM amp O 1940 Streamstyled steam loco Ps 4 1380 for The Tennessean of Southern Railway 1941 Heat insulated food container company unknown US patent 2 367 409 ACF subway car proposal for New York City built as R11 by Budd US patent Des 153 367 and for Boston 1947 Proposal of suspended monorail mass transit system for Denver 1948References edit Merrill Peter C 1997 German Immigrant Artists in America A Biographical Dictionary Scarecrow Press ISBN 9780810832664 SAM searchable Art Museum New Mexico Museum of Art Retrieved 6 February 2014 Kuhler Otto My Iron Journey A Life with Steam and Steel p 243 Intermountain Chapter National Railway Historical Society Denver Colorado 1967 Railway Excursion Centennial Will be Marked on Tuesday Gazette Telegraph p 12D October 24 1971 Colorado Springs Colorado Bound for Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph p 14CC May 14 1972 Colorado Springs Colorado Cattlemen s Centennial Medal Windsor Beacon p 3 May 4 1967 Windsor Colorado Varied Prizes for Empire s Opening Thursday Greeley Tribune p 8 March 2 1960 Greeley Colorado Bibliography edit Streamlining the Railroads Product Engineering June 1934 What Price Beauty of Line and Color Metal Progress August 1934 Stil und Werbung im Eisenbahnwesen Verkehrswirtschaftliche Rundschau Vienna August 1935 Appeal Design in Railroad Equipment Railway Age November 30 1935 Portraits of the Iron Horse with Robert S Henry 1937 reprinted 1976 On the Railroad by Robert S Henry illustrated by Kuhler 1938 In the Steel Mill with Donald Wilhelm 1939 My Iron Journey an autobiography 1967 2nd edition 1978 The etchings of Otto Kuhler Kennedy Galleries New York 1985 How We Make Steel Otto Kuhler 1939 The Colorado Road History Motive Power and Equipment of the Colorado amp Southern and Ft Worth amp Denver by F Hol Wagner Jr External links editThe Hiawatha Room at Coffeedrome Coal Burners by Otto Kuhler Colorado Railroad Museum website Railroad Art by Otto August Kuhler Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Otto Kuhler amp oldid 1188671758, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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