Ezra Stoller. General Motors Technical Center, 1956
On view through 18 September at the Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao is an exhibition curated by Norman Foster that throws light on the artistic facet of the automobile. ‘Motion: Autos, Art, Architecture’ considers affinities between technology and art, showing, for example, how the wind tunnel helped to give the automobile its stylized aerodynamic shape, increasing its speed through a more economical use of power. The streamlining revolution inspired the Futurist movement and other artists of the period, and was reflected in the industrial design of everything. Automobile design was also impregnated with ideas coming from the artistic avant-garde. Forty vehicles are on display amid pieces by artists like Christo, Edward Ruscha, and Andy Warhol, and drawings by architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Albert Kahn. Seven halls presenting seven themes – Beginning, Sculptures, Popularising, Sporting, Visionaries, Americana, Future – organize the exhibition chronologically.
General Motors, Firebirds I, II y III, 1954–58. Photo: Rodney Morr
R. Buckminster Fuller. Dymaxion #4, 2010 (based on #1–3, 1933–34) © Norman Foster Foundation
Jean Bugatti. Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, 1936 © Photo by Michael Furman
Franco Scaglione. Alfa Romeo BAT Car 7, 1954. © Photo by Michael Furman
Giotto Bizzarrini. Ferrari 250 GTO, 1962. © Ben de Chair
John Owen. Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance Formula One Racing Car, 2020. © Mercedes‑Benz AG
Andreas Gursky. F1Boxenstopp I, 2007. © Andreas Gursky / Courtesy Sprüth Magers / VEGAP, 2022. Photo: © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage
Wifredo Ricart. Pegaso Z-102 , 1952. © Louwman Museum
Christo. Wrapped Volkswagen (Project for 1961 Volkswagen Beetle Salon), 2013. © Christo, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2022
Frank Lloyd Wright. Gordon Strong Automobile Objective and Planetarium (unbuilt), Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland, 1924–25. © 2022 The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona. © Frank Lloyd Wright, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2022
Albert Kahn. Representación a vista de pájaro de Ford Motor Company Highland Park en 1924 (Ford Motor Company Highland Park Rendering bird's eye view in 1924), 1924. Gift of the Estate of John Bloom
Edward Ruscha. Standard Station, 1966. © Ed Ruscha
Andy Warhol. Benz Patent Motor Car , 1986. © 2022, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./VEGAP. Photo: Uwe Seyl, Stuttgart
