The Art of the Motorcycle

The Art of the Motorcycle
A man standing between two vintage motorcycles on pedestals surrounded by curving, reflective walls.
Reflective stainless steel interior of the Guggenheim Las Vegas designed by Frank Gehry.
Subject:motorcycles
Nation/culture:US and other industrialized countries.
Media:motorcycles, film, speeches, memorabilia
Period:20th century
Host:Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Major lenders:Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum,[1][2] Chandler Vintage Museum of Transportation and Wildlife[3]
Financial sponsors:BMW, Lufthansa
Opening Venue:Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY June 26, 1998 (1998-06-26) - September 20, 1998 (1998-September-20)[4]
Second Venue:Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL November 7, 1998 (1998-11-07) - March 21, 1999 (1999-03-21)
Third Venue:Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain November 24, 1999 (1999-November-24) - September 3, 2000 (2000-September-03)[4][5]
Final Venue*:Guggenheim Las Vegas, NV October 7, 2001 (2001-10-07) - January 6, 2003 (2003-01-06)[6]
Total attendance:2,000,000[7]
CuratorsThomas Krens, Charles Falco, Ultan Guilfoyle
* Later derivative exhibitions licensing the name were put on by Wonders: The Memphis International Cultural Series and the Orlando Museum of Art, and others, using some of the original catalog and a variety of interior designs, but not curated by the Guggenheim.

The Art of the Motorcycle was an exhibition that presented 114[8] motorcycles chosen for their historic importance or design excellence[9] in a display designed by Frank Gehry in the curved rotunda of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, running for three months in late 1998.[dubious – discuss][10][11] The exhibition attracted the largest crowds ever at that museum,[12] and received mixed but positive reviews in the art world, with the exception of some art and social critics who rejected outright the existence of such a show at an institution like the Guggenheim, condemning it for excessive populism, and for being compromised by the financial influence of its sponsors.[10][13]

The unusual move to place motorcycles in the Guggenheim came from director Thomas Krens, himself a motorcycling enthusiast, supported by a novel corporate tie-in with BMW.[10] The motorcycles were chosen by experts including Krens, physicist and motorcycling historian Charles Falco, Guggenheim advisers Ultan Guilfoyle and Manon Slone, and others.[9] The exhibition was described by historian Jeremy Packer as representing the end of a cycle of demonization and social rejection of motorcyclists, followed by acceptance and reintegration that had begun with the mythologized Hollister riot of 1947 and ended with the high-end marketing of motorcycles and the newly fashionable biker image of the 1980s and 1990s.[13] Or at least the show served as "a long-overdue celebration of the sport, the machines and the pioneers they love."[11]

The exhibition was the beginning of a new trend in profitable, blockbuster museum exhibits,[14] foreshadowed by The Treasures of Tutankhamun tour of 1972-1979.[15] Questions over the museum's relationship with corporate financial sponsors, both in this show and the tribute to the work of fashion designer Giorgio Armani (on the heels of a $15 million pledge to the museum from Mr. Armani) that followed shortly after, contributed to soul searching and the drafting of new ethical guidelines by the Association of Art Museum Directors.[16][17][18]

  1. ^ Patton (2003)
  2. ^ Albertson
  3. ^ Edwards (2007)
  4. ^ a b Past Exhibitions | The Art of the Motorcycle (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2009
  5. ^ Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa (2009)
  6. ^ Past Exhibitions | The Art of the Motorcycle (Guggenheim Las Vegas), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2009
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Falco was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ There were about 19 pre-20th century motorcycles shown in NYC along with the 95 in the official catalog, totaling 114 by most accounts. Some news media gave varying reports of the exact count (from 105 to as high as 140). Later exhibitions in other venues made substitutions, additions and deletions from the original collection.
  9. ^ a b Sawetz. "The Art of the Motorcycle is curated by Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, with the help of a team of experts: curatorial advisors Ultan Guilfoyle of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum and University of Arizona Physics Professor Charles Falco; exhibition co-ordinator Manon Slome, and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Curatorial Department. Works displayed are on loan from the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum, the Munich Deutsches Museum, and the Otis Chandler Museum of Transportation and Wildlife, among others. [...] The exhibition brings together motorbikes renowned for their extraordinary design and innovative use of technology."
  10. ^ a b c Kinsella (1998)
  11. ^ a b McCraw (1998)
  12. ^ Plagens (1998)
  13. ^ a b Packer (2008) pp 154-159
  14. ^ Overholser (2008)
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Weisberg1998 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Vogel (1999)
  17. ^ The Economist (2001)
  18. ^ Green (2005)