The twenty automobiles and motorcycles selected for Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles were carefully chosen to reflect these periods’ views and design practices. Though it wasn’t specifically labeled at the time, the Art Deco influence was very widespread. Acclaimed architects and industrial designers such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Norman Bel Geddes, Walter Dorwin Teague, Raymond Loewy, and Walter Gropius fell under its spell, as did many noted automotive stylists, racecar innovators, and engineers like Jean Bugatti, Amos Northup, Phillip Wright, Harry Arminius Miller, E.T. “Bob” Gregorie, Harley Earl, Bill Mitchell, Gordon Miller Buehrig, Walter P. Murphy and others. The exhibition includes a Cord L-29 designed by Harold Ames and owned by Frank Lloyd Wright, who said the lines of the Cord " . . . looked becoming to my houses." On hand will be a sleek 1930 Bugatti Type 46 Superprofile coupe by Jean Bugatti that was greatly admired in its day, and many of its styling cues are still recognizable in modern cars. In the early 1930s, when upright, square-rigged autos were prevalent, Phillip O. Wright's sleek Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow and William Bushnell Stout's beetle-shaped Scarab shocked onlookers. These cars weren't sales successes, but within a few years they were widely emulated. Edsel Bryant Ford, the son of Henry Ford, commissioned a
one-of-a-kind roadster for his personal use. It will be one of the stars of the exhibition, along with a unique Henderson KJ Streamline concept motorcycle that represents a brave peek into the future on two wheels. On loan from the Collier Collection, the exhibition's Delahaye 135MS roadster, with fully skirted fenders, custom bodied by Figoni and Falaschi, has been called “a Paris gown on wheels.” Cars like these will surely take your breath away. Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles presents the best of the Art Deco era, providing a close look at some of the great cars and motorcycles that define the genre. While these vehicles will be artistically displayed and spotlighted in the galleries of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, itself an Art Deco building, it’s important to remember they are indeed rolling sculpture, really kinetic art, if you will, and capable of dynamic function. A beautifully illustrated catalog will be available with essays by Art Deco authority Thomas Mellins and Guest Curator Ken Gross. The studio photography is by Peter Harholdt. Art aficionados and auto enthusiasts alike will love this exhibition. This article first appeared in the Spring 2013 issue of the Chicago Art Deco Society magazine. For more information about Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles at the Frist Center June 14 to September 15, visit www.fristcenter.org.
1937 Delahaye 135MS Roadster, Courtesy of The Revs Institute for Automotive Research @ the Collier Collection
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