Helen Dryden

Helen Dryden (5 November 1882 – 1972) was an American artist and industrial designer in the 1920s and 1930s. She was reportedly described by The New York Times as being the highest-paid woman artist in the United States, though she lived in comparative poverty in later years.

Education Dryden was born in Baltimore to a wealthy family that lived near the Washington Monument. Her future as a socialite changed when the family encountered a "break-down of a sugar refining business." Her "essentially romantic style produced some of the most appealing, yet fantastical images on Vogue covers, frequently depicting imagined rather than realistic representations of dress." She also illustrated other Condé Nast titles, including Vanity Fair and House and Garden. Dryden stopped working for Vogue in mid-1923 and began designing wallpaper patterns and illustrated advertisements for companies making dress fabrics, towels, and hats.

Industrial design Following the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Dryden turned her attention to industrial design, producing many designs for tableware, lamps, and other housewares for the Revere Corporation. She had a highly paid job with the Dura Company until the stock market crash of 1929. At this point, she was replaced by George W. Walker. It seems Dryden never fully recovered from this blow. Christopher Gray wrote, "The 1925 census recorded her living at 9 East 10th Street with her 25-year-old Philippine-born cook and butler, Ricardo Lampitok."

Dryden worked for Studebaker from 1935 to 1938, reportedly earning $100,000 per year ($ in dollars ). Automotive designer Raymond Loewy contracted with her to help him design Studebaker interiors. Her work on the interior of the 1936 Studebaker Dictator and President that established Helen Dryden as an important twentieth-century industrial designer. The advertisements by the automaker proclaimed, "It's styled by Helen Dryden." Dryden designed the Studebaker President throughout, and the press marveled that a woman had attained this eminence in mechanical engineering. Studebaker described the interior of the 1937 cars as "refreshingly ventilated and generously roomy, …tastefully and distinctively styled by famous Helen Dryden, America's "first lady" of design." Similar advertisements mentioning Helen Dryden by name appeared in popular magazines and many newspapers, an unusual effort "to publicize a specific designer, especially a woman, in car advertising" at that time. She was considered "one of the top industrial designers and one of the few women in the automotive field." Dryden worked with Loewy through 1940. Her groundbreaking achievements have not been recognized.