Exhibition dates: 2nd June – 16th September 2012
Beast III Streamliner
1952
Courtesy of Mark and Newie Brinker, Houston, Texas
© Peter Harholdt
Continuing my fascination with the design of the automobile, here are another selection of classics!
Marcus
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Many thankx to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photograph for a larger version of the image.
Mormon Meteor III
1938
Courtesy of Price Museum of Speed, Salt Lake City, Utah
© Peter Harholdt
Duesenberg SJ Mormon Meteor I
1935
Courtesy of Harry Yeaggy Auto Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
© Peter Harholdt
Ford Modified Roadster
1927
Courtesy of Richard V. Munz, Madison, Wisconsin
© Peter Harholdt
Miller 122 Front-Wheel-Drive
1925
Courtesy of Price Museum of Speed, Salt Lake City, Utah
© Peter Harholdt
Racing into town this summer, Speed: The Art of the Performance Automobile will be on display at the University of Utah on the first-floor galleries of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building from June 2 – September 16. The exhibition comprises 19 of the world’s finest automobiles and was organised by automotive historian, museum consultant and guest curator Ken Gross.
Speed will showcase a century of automobiles that exemplify premier aerodynamics, engineering, art and design of their eras. The cars range from the menacing 1952 “Beast III” Bonneville racer to the ultra-cool 1957 Jaguar XK-SS Roadster, once owned by Steve McQueen. The cars are on loan from some of the country’s top automobile collections, including the Price Museum of Speed; National Automobile Museum; Petersen Automotive Museum; Bruce Meyer; Peter and Merle Mullin; Jon and Mary Shirley; and the Larry H. Miller Family.
“We are delighted to be presenting ‘Speed: The Art of the Performance Automobile’ and are confident that our visitors will be amazed at the beauty, engineering, and amazing stories of these incredible cars” says Gretchen Dietrich, executive director of the UMFA. “We hope many first time visitors will come to see the exhibition and be introduced to our wonderful museum and collection.”
A number of art museums in America and Europe recently presented popular exhibitions of cars, including Curves of Steel at the Phoenix Art Museum (2007), Allure of the Automobile at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta (2010) and the Portland Art Museum (2011), as well as L’Art de L’Automobile: Chef d’Oeuvres de la Collection Ralph Lauren at the Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris (2011). The first art exhibition of cars was Eight Automobiles, mounted sixty years ago at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (1951).
The UMFA’s automobile exhibition, however, is the first of its kind. Speed will examine automobiles not only as works of art and design, but as objects of rich racing history. The featured cars were created by legendary engineers, distinguished designers, and storied automobile companies; many are speed record-setters that were owned and raced by famous drivers and other notable people of their time. This is the first and only time these 19 cars have been seen together in one venue.
Many of the cars in Speed: The Art of the Performance Automobile have a special connection to Utah’s famed Bonneville Salt Flats, where racers from all over the world traveled, and continue to travel, in attempts to break land speed records. The “Mormon Meteor III” is perhaps the most famous Bonneville race car. Designed and driven by legendary racer and former Salt Lake City Mayor David Abbott “Ab” Jenkins (1883-1956), the “Mormon Meteor III” set more long distance land speed records than any other automobile in history, and it still holds 12 of them today.
“These 19 special automobiles comprise a remarkable selection of historic racers and high performance cars, spanning more than a century,” notes guest curator Ken Gross. “Unlikely to be repeated, this exhibition represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see and study these legends on wheels.”
Press release from the UMFA website
4 1/2-Litre “Blower” Bentley
1931
Courtesy of Price Museum of Speed, Salt Lake City, Utah
© Peter Harholdt
Bugatti Type 35B Grand Prix
1929
Courtesy of Price Museum of Speed, Salt Lake City, Utah
© Peter Harholdt
Peerless “Green Dragon” Racer
1904
Courtesy of Price Museum of Speed, Salt Lake City, Utah
© Peter Harholdt
Renault AI 35/45 HP Vanderbilt Racer
1907
Courtesy of Price Museum of Speed, Salt Lake City, Utah
© Peter Harholdt
Cord 812
1937
Courtesy of The National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection), Reno, Nevada
© Peter Harholdt
So-Cal Speed Shop Belly Tank
1952
Courtesy of Collection of Bruce Meyer, Los Angeles, California
© Peter Harholdt
“Speedomotive Special” Streamliner
1975
Courtesy of Price Museum of Speed, Salt Lake City, Utah
© Peter Harholdt
Utah Museum of Fine Arts
University of Utah campus
Marcia and John Price Museum Building
410 Campus Center Drive
Opening hours:
Tuesday – Sunday 10am – 5pm
Closed Mondays
Utah Museum of Fine Arts website
Art Blart _ art and cultural memory archive 
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