INDEPENDENCE & CONSTITUTION (1951)

 

American Export Lines contacted Henry Dreyfuss as World War II was coming to a close to work on a trio of liners for their Mediterranean route. Funding issues postponed the project, and the focus shifted to a new Four Aces which became a testing ground of sorts for what would become the Independence and Constitution.

 

To help publicize the ships, a three-day art exhibition was held in the Park Lane Hotel in mid-November 1950. The ships were identical, with the main exception of the First Class Dining Room. Joe Jones created a mural of Boston Harbor for the Independence, while Lyonel Feininger's was one of a Mediterranean harbor for the Constitution.

 

ARTIST ROSTER

John Amore, Henry Billings, Xenia Cage, Lyonel Feininger (Constitution), Gibbs & Cox, John H. Jacoby, Joe Jones (Independence), Edmund Lewandowski, Lawrence Kupferman, Bruno Mankowski (Independence), Frank Nastasi, Getel Kahn Nastasi, Emile Norman, Polks Model Craft, Anton Refregier, Allen Saalburg, Max Spivak, Ruth Vollmer, Samuel Walker

 

BASIC STATS

Length: 682'  |  Beam: 89'  |  Passengers: 1,000  |  23,720 gross tons  |  Speed: 23 knots