Academy Art Museum announces upcoming exhibition: 'Bugatti: Reaching for Perfection'
By: Old Cars Weekly
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Academy Art Museum announces upcoming exhibition: 'Bugatti: Reaching for Perfection'
A Multigenerational Story of Modern Creativity and Innovation
The exhibition will explore the rich artistic and technological legacies of the peripatetic Bugatti family, beginning with patriarch Carlo Bugatti (1856-1940). His fin-de-siècle furniture designs, which debuted at international expositions in London, Paris, Milan, and Turin, are noteworthy for their fanciful combination of materials: ebonized wood inlaid with copper, brass, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and vellum, which he often decorated with leather tassels, geometric marquetry, and painted designs. Sons Ettore (1881-1947) and Rembrandt (1884-1916) inherited their father’s artistic passion but pursued different paths.
Academy Art Museum
Rembrandt had a tragically brief career as a sculptor, producing deeply empathetic and impressionistic portraits of animals. Ettore, meanwhile, became a celebrated automobile designer and manufacturer. According to automotive scholar and guest curator Ken Gross, Bugatti’s technical advances were inextricably linked to—even indistinguishable from—their formal beauty: “Everything about Bugatti was artistic: the cars, their advertising, and the enduring joie de vivre associated with the marque.” The cars that he and his elder son, Jean (1909-1939), designed, came to epitomize the speed and dynamism of modernity.
Academy Art Museum
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to immerse themselves in the Bugatti family story as they view the furniture, cars, sculptures, photographs, advertisements, and other ephemera. These pieces and the stories behind them will provide a deeper understanding of the family's creative passions, their pursuit of perfection, and their place within the history of cultural modernity.
“Although Ettore Bugatti famously declared, ‘Perfection is never reached,’ he obsessively pursued it throughout his career,” said senior curator Lee Glazer.
Expanding Access and Audience
Maryland’s Eastern Shore is a major destination for car collectors, thanks to the annual St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance. Bugatti: Reaching for Perfection aims to attract concours attendees and car collectors who are not necessarily regular Academy Art Museum visitors. Special “hoods up” days and other programs will offer behind-the-scenes experiences and special access to subject-matter experts.
The exhibition supports the museum’s commitment to education, outreach, and inspiration for all. With no admission fee, Bugatti: Reaching for Perfection will be accessible not only to car enthusiasts and collectors, but to art and design lovers, and the broader community, including students and residents of the mid-Atlantic region and the Eastern Shore.
Save the Date
The exhibition opens with a gala preview on December 5, 2024, and will be open to the public from December 6, 2024 through April 13, 2025.
106 South Street Easton, Maryland 21601
No politics, no religion, no instagrams, and commentary must be civil. The ToS and the CoC will be enforced, and anything that the administrator deems to be offensive will be deleted. YouTubes, videos and images that the administrator is unable to open must be described and explained or they will be deleted.
Tags
Who is online
159 visitors
What a creative family - brilliant. But can you imagine parents calling their son "Rembrandt"? I suppose they would if they wanted him to be a creative artistic genius. So if you want your son to be really intelligent, call him "Einstein".