An exhibition of Art Deco automobiles will be displayed at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 14 through September 15, 2013. The exhibition, entitled Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles, will be on view in the Center’s Ingram Gallery.
Inspired by the Frist Center’s historic Art Deco building, Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles will feature automobiles and motorcycles from the 1930s and ‘40s that exemplify the elegance, materials and iconography of motion characterizing vehicles influenced by the Art Deco style.
Influenced by the Art Deco movement that began in Paris in the early 1920s and propelled to prominence in 1927 with the success of the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, automakers embraced the sleek new streamlined forms and aircraft-inspired materials, creating memorable automobiles that still thrill all who see them. The exhibition will feature 18 automobiles and three motorcycles from some of the most important collectors and collections in the United States.
Sensuous Steel is organized for the Frist Center by guest curator Ken Gross, former director of the Petersen Automotive Museum. Gross served as guest curator for The Allure of the Automobile, a nationally acclaimed exhibition displayed at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art in 2010; additionally, he developed a revised version of the exhibition for the Portland Art Museum the following year. Most recently, Gross curated Speed: The Art of the Performance Automobile, currently on view at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the opening exhibition for LeMay–America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Wash. A noted authority on automobiles, Gross has judged at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for 24 years. Gross also judges at the Amelia Island Concours and was the Chief Judge at the Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance. Additionally, Gross has received many awards including the 2009 IAMA Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2009 Lee Iacocca Award, the 2008 Washington Auto Press “Golden Quill Award,” the Society of Automotive Historians’ “Cugnot Award,” and “The James Valentine Memorial Award” for excellence in automotive historical research.
An illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition.
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
About the Frist Center
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, is an art exhibition center dedicated to presenting the finest visual art from local, regional, U.S. and international sources in a program of changing exhibitions. The Frist Center’s Martin ArtQuest Gallery, open until 5:30 p.m. each day, features interactive stations relating to Frist Center exhibitions. Gallery admission to the Frist Center is free for visitors 18 and younger and to Frist Center members. With possible exception for some specially-ticketed exhibitions, Frist Center admission is $10.00 for adults and $7.00 for seniors, military and college students with ID. College students are admitted free Thursday and Friday evenings, 5–9 p.m. Discounts are offered for groups of 10 or more with advance reservation by calling (615) 744-3247. The Frist Center is open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. and Sundays, 1–5:30 p.m., with the Frist Center Café opening at noon.
For additional information, call (615) 244-3340 or visit www.fristcenter.org.
[Source: Frist Center; photo credit: Peter Harholdt]
What a SUPERB collection of unique automobiles from a great period of opulence and more remarkable for their survivability and spectacular restorations.