The Portland Art Museum has debuted a special exhibition, The Shape of Speed: Streamlined Automobiles and Motorcycles, 1930–1942. Beginning in the 1930s and lasting until the outbreak of the World War II, automotive designers embraced the challenge of styling and building streamlined cars that were fuel-efficient and fast. Designers were influenced by the convergence of aircraft design with the sleek shapes of fast railroad locomotives; advanced highways such as the Autobahns; and events like the 1939 New York City World’s Fair, which showcased futuristic design.
The Shape of Speed presents a select group of rare automobiles and motorcycles that depict how auto designers translated the concept of aerodynamic efficiency into exciting machines that in appeared as if they were moving while at rest.
The Museum will display 17 cars and 2 motorcycles from Europe and the United States. Engineering drawings and period photographs will show some of the aircraft, railroad, ship, and yacht designs that influenced the automakers. Engineers and designers to be featured include Paul Jaray, Richard Buckminster Fuller, Norman Bel Geddes, Raymond Loewy, Harley J. Earl, Hermann Ahrens, Georges Paulin, Joseph Figoni, Dr. Wunibald Kamm, Otto Kuhler, Jean Bugatti, Hans Ledwinka, Gordon Buehrig, and others.
Some of the automotive marques featured in The Shape of Speed include Mercedes-Benz, who have restored one of the carmaker’s Stromlinienwagens (streamlined cars) from 1938, along with Bugatti, BMW, Alfa Romeo, Voisin, Talbot-Lago, Delahaye, Cord and Chrysler. In addition, The Shape of Speed includes two motorcycles: a radically streamlined Henderson KJ and a BMW concept R7 motorcycle that was developed in the mid-1930s, lost for decades in a missing crate, recovered in 2005, and completely restored.
The Shape of Speed is guest curated by Ken Gross, former director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Gross previously curated the Museum’s 2011 exhibition The Allure of the Automobile, which enthralled visitors with its lavish presentation of automobiles as kinetic art—a form of rolling sculpture. With this new exhibition, the Museum opens the door to another fascinating exploration of automotive design.
Figure Caption: Stout Scarab, 1936. Photo: Peter Harholdt. Aircraft designer William Bushnell Stout believed the use of lightweight, aircraft construction techniques could result in a streamlined, futuristic, faster and more economical car. He envisioned a startling shape—the result of a monocoque (unitized) chassis and body, with a rear-mounted powertrain. All four wheels were located at the corners of the vehicle, for a more spacious interior. The seats could be reconfigured; there was a folding table and a small divan. Stout’s Scarab anticipated the modern minivan.
