Sensuous Steel:
Art Deco Automobiles

Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles is an exhibition of Art Deco automobiles from some of the most renowned car collections in the United States.

Inspired by the Frist Art Museum’s historic Art Deco building, this exhibition features spectacular automobiles and motorcycles from the 1930s and ‘40s that exemplify the classic elegance, luxurious materials, and iconography of motion that characterizes vehicles influenced by the Art Deco style.

Fascination with automobiles transcends age, gender, and environment.  While today automotive manufacturers often strive for economy and efficiency, there was a time when elegance reigned.  Influenced by the Art Deco movement that began in Paris in the early 1920s and propelled to prominence with the success of the International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925, automakers embraced the sleek new streamlined forms and aircraft-inspired materials, creating memorable automobiles that still thrill all who see them. The exhibition features 18 automobiles and two motorcycles from some of the most important collectors and collections in the United States.

Sensuous Steel is organized for the Frist Art Museum by guest curator Ken Gross, former director of the Petersen Automotive Museum. Gross served as guest curator for The Allure of the Automobile, a nationally acclaimed exhibition displayed at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art in 2010; additionally, he developed a revised version of the exhibition for the Portland Art Museum the following year. Most recently, Gross curated Speed: The Art of the Performance Automobile exhibited at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City and the opening exhibition for LeMay–America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Wash. A highly respected automotive journalist for over 40 years, Gross writes for numerous publications including  AutoWeek, Playboy, Hagerty’s Magazine, Sports Car Market, Motor Trend Classic, Popular Mechanics, msnautos.com, Old Cars Weekly, and The Rodder’s Journal. A noted authority on automobiles, he has judged at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for 24 years. Gross also judges at the Amelia Island Concours and was the Chief Judge at the Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance. Additionally, Gross has received many awards including the 2009 IAMA Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2009 Lee Iacocca Award, the 2008 Washington Auto Press “Golden Quill Award,” the Society of Automotive Historians’ “Cugnot Award,” and “The James Valentine Memorial Award” for excellence in automotive historical research.

An illustrated catalogue accompanied the exhibition.

Learn more about the automobiles in this exhibition

• 1929 Bugatti Type 46 Semi-profile Coupe
• 1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet
• 1930 Henderson KJ Streamline
• 1930 Jordan Model Z Speedway Ace Roadster
• 1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow Sedan
• 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster™
• 1934 Packard Twelve Model 1106 Sport Coupe by LeBaron
• 1934 Voisin Type C27 Aérosport Coupe
• 1935 Chrysler Imperial Model C-2 Airflow Coupe
• 1936 Cord 810 “Armchair” Beverly Sedan
• 1936 Delahaye 135M Figoni & Falaschi Competition Coupe
• 1936 Stout Scarab
• 1937 Delahaye 135MS Roadster
• 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet “Xenia” Coupe
• 1938 Talbot-Lago T-150C-SS Teardrop Coupe
• 1938 Tatra T97
• 1939 Bugatti Type 57C by Vanvooren
• 1939 Delage D8-120S Saoutchik Cabriolet
• 1940 Indian Chief
• 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt

Links of interest:

• Academy of Art University – San Francisco
• Auburn Cord Dusenberg Museum  – Auburn, Indiana
• Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum – Birmingham, AL
• Barrington Concours d’Elegance – Barrington Hills, IL
• Beechcraft Heritage Museum – Tullahoma, TN
• Bruce Sweetman Photography – Nashville, TN 
• Chubb Collector Car Insurance 
• The Collier Collection – Naples, FL
• The Cummer Museum: Future Retro: The Great Age of the American Automobile – Jacksonville, FL
• Edsel and Eleanor Ford House – Grosse Pointe Shores, MI
• Greening Auto Company – Nashville
• Lane Motor Museum – Nashville
• Mullin Automotive Museum – Oxnard, CA
• National Corvette Museum – Bowling Green, KY
• Petersen Automotive Museum – Los Angeles
• Saratoga Auto Museum – Saratoga, NY
• Vintage Autocraft – Lebanon, TN

The Frist Art Museum gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Art Deco Society.