ArtsCriticATL.com

Forget transportation issues when you go to see the High Museum of Art’s “The Allure of the Automobile.” This display of classic and vintage vehicles is about design. Here’s an excerpt from my AJC review.

“The designs of the ’30s are all the more astounding when you think of the cars driven by the hoi polloi at that time. The upright, boxy Model T and Model A Fords hark back to horse-drawn carriages. The sleek, sinuous lines and parallel-opening doors of the 1937 Dubonnet Hispano-Suiza, which looks straight out of ‘The Jetsons’ or a James Bond film, have more in common with airplanes.
The aerodynamic shape designers preferred had something to do with speed and sport, but it also reflected the zeitgeist. Synonymous with modernity and its ever-faster pace, the streamlined forms were all the rage, even for objects that didn’t move at all.”

The aerodynamic curves of this Pierce-Arrow reflected the zeitgeist of the Machine Age.

This glamorous Bugatti, which looks like one of a pair of bespoke spats, was like the rest of these high-end autos, the incarnation of its owner’s wealth, power and taste.

2 Comments

1. scott

   1

   My whole life I’ve loved cars and i have to say that i enjoyed this exhibition so much. I think it is easy to think of these cars as works of art. Most of them are handmade with every elaborate detail polished.

   I loved seeing the Ferrari and realizing that many of the lines were lifted directly to create the Mustang 3 years later. I would love to spend more time in the exhibition. I’d really like to attend a day that the hoods and doors are left open to gaze inside.

   29 Mar

2. Leisa Rich

   2

   I bought Groupon’s High Museum family pass deal JUST to get myself to The High and see this exhibition! I’m a girl who thinks cars are art!!!!!

   29 Mar

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