CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 7/21/2021

MoMA's 'Automania' traces the rich cultural history of the car

Featured images are reproduced from Automania, published to accompany the highly anticipated exhibition of automobile-related design, art and architecture on view now at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. “From plaything of the rich to utilitarian necessity of modern life to artistic muse, the car has triggered conflicting responses since its first appearance in the 1890s,” the editors write. “Some have viewed the car as the ultimate expression of technological progress, capable of bringing about positive societal change, while others have seen it as the enemy of humanistic values, leading only to destruction. Current efforts to render the combustion engine redundant suggest we have reached a critical moment in this narrative. Robot-controlled cars promise cleaner air. Fewer young people are learning to drive, and fewer still are able to repair cars, including the electric models that are becoming increasingly prevalent. Escalating environmental concerns, combined with the restricted mobility and economic crisis engendered by the COVID-10 pandemic, are focusing public attention on the urgent need for creative strategies and government action to shape the future of personal transportation. New directions will require clear-eyed reflection on why cars have been, and continue to be, so important to us. For all their ubiquity and attendant problems, these everyday objects still have the power to enthrall as works of art—if only as museum pieces.”

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Ferdinand Porsche, Volkswagenwerk AG, Wolfsburg, West Germany. Volkswagen Type 1 Sedan. Designed 1938 (this example 1959); Vern Blosum, "Time Expired" 1962; Flaminio Bertoni, André Lefèbvre, Paul Magès, Robert Opron; Citroën, France. DS 23 Sedan. Designed 1954-1967 (this example 1973); Margaret Bourke-White, Chrysler Corporation,1932.