Biography

Russell Flinchum is a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and took his B.A. in English and M.A. in Art History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He moved to New York in 1985 to attend The Graduate School of The City University of New York, receiving his Ph.D. in Art History in 1998.

In 1990 Flinchum became the first Peter Krueger/Christie’s Fellow at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. In 1992, he was named Guest Curator for the exhibition Henry Dreyfuss: Directing Design. The exhibition, which opened in March 1997, received enthusiastic reviews and a number of important awards, as did the accompanying book, Henry Dreyfuss, Industrial Designer: The Man in the Brown Suit.

In 1999, Flinchum became the Archivist of the Century Association Archives Foundation, where he oversaw work on the historical records of this important cultural institution. In 2001, with Shoji Sadao, he curated the exhibition “Buckminster Fuller/Shoji Sadao” for the Century, which traveled to Milton Academy and Stanford University. American Design, his most recent book, was published by The Museum of Modern Art and 5 Continents in 2008.

Flinchum is Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Industrial Design and Art + Design in the College of Design at North Carolina State University, where he began teaching in January 2014.

Areas of expertise 2014.09.24

Authority on Henry Dreyfuss (1904-1972), one of the most prominent figures among the first generation of industrial designers in the United States. Published Henry Dreyfuss, Industrial Designer: The Man in the Brown Suit in 1997 in conjunction with a major retrospective at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York (Henry Dreyfuss, Directing Design: The Industrial Designer and His Work, 1929-1972).

Industrial design in the United States; author of American Design (5 Continents/The Museum of Modern Art, 2008).

History of Design Industrial Revolution to Present
19th & 20th Century European & American Architecture
19th & 20th Century European & American Painting and Sculpture