ABSTRACT
With flowing lines and elegant curves, a sculptural masterpiece, positioned on a low riser, impresses all who see it. But it’s not a marble statue; it’s an automobile – and it’s on display in a fine art museum. Once thought to be scandalous, this practice is becoming more prevalent. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, fine art museums have presented automobile exhibitions that have delighted car aficionados and art lovers alike. It all began in 1951, when the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City presented “8 Automobiles,” a studied exhibition that was considered shocking for its time, because it displayed automobiles in a space where they’d never appeared, simultaneously placing automotive design on a par with contemporary fine art and architecture. This chapter both contextualizes and illustrates how some automobiles are now accepted as mainstream examples of contemporary fine art. Following the chapter is a sample essay from an art catalog that serves to document an automobile exhibition in a fine art museum, which is different from those descriptions found in typical automobile museums.
