July 18 - September 19, 1999

Exhibition Highlights
Curator's Article
About the Curator
Bugatti Timeline
Buy Tickets Online
Programs
Catalogue
Sponsors

Visit the Bugatti Collection in our Online Store

Organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, Bugatti was conceived by Henry Hawley, Curator of Renaissance and Later Decorative Arts and Sculpture. The senior member of the museum's curatorial staff, Mr. Hawley has been pursuing the idea for an exhibition of Bugatti works since the 1970s. This exhibition is a crowning achievement for Henry Hawley, whose 38-year career at the CMA is a distinguished accomplishment in itself. Mr. Hawley is one of the foremost authorities on decorative arts and the Bugatti.

The first of the exhibition's three sections will be devoted to works of the family's patriarch, Carlo Bugatti (1856-1940), who began designing furniture in his own workshop in Milan around 1885. He won international acclaim for his exotic designs for interiors and furnishings, including a Diploma of Honor at the Italian Exhibition in London in 1888 and the Silver Medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. Influenced by Islamic, Japanese, and medieval European styles, Carlo's furniture designs featured elaborate inlays of white metal, brass, bone, or ivory; hammered brass plaques; painted parchment panels; and silk and leather fringe. His distinctive style culminated in several roomlike settings that were included in an international exposition of decorative arts held in Turin in 1902. Among them was the "Snail Room," the design of which was based on a snail's shell. Around 1904, Carlo sold his workshop and moved to Paris where he shifted his attention to cast metalworks, primarily in silver. Of the 45 objects by Carlo on view, about two-thirds are furniture; the remaining works are in silver and bronze, plus some drawings.

The second gallery displays 21 bronze statues and five drawings by Carlo's younger son, Rembrandt (1884-1916). Rembrandt did not go to Milan's art academy like his older brother Ettore. Instead, he learned his craft from working in his father's shop and from his uncle, the painter Giovanni Segantini, as well as sculptors Paul Troubetskoy and Medardo Rosso, who were family friends. Shortly after 1900, Rembrandt found a dealer in Paris who offered him a regular stipend that permitted him to pursue his passion, the creation of bronze sculptures of animals and occasionally of human beings. The zoos of Paris and Antwerp were the sources of inspiration for the young artist. Unfortunately, the First World War resulted in the killing of all the animals in the Antwerp zoo and the closing of his dealer's business, which had a devastating toll on the emotionally fragile and financially strapped Rembrandt. In 1916, at the age of 31, he committed suicide with his French Legion of Honor certificate at his side. In this exhibition there will be 19 of Rembrandt's acclaimed representations of animals, plus two of his statues of human figures and a pencil self-portrait.

The final gallery will show six of the legendary Bugatti automobiles created by Carlo's older son Ettore (1881-1947) and Ettore's son Jean (1909-1939). Three of the cars are regarded by some experts in the field as the "best of the best" cars ever made--the Type 41 Royale, Type 55 Roadster, and Type 57SC Atlantic--making their appearance together in the Bugatti exhibition a rare event. The remaining three cars are a Type 50 passenger car, a Type 51 racer and a Type 52 "Baby Bugatti" made for children. Although Bugatti automobiles were renowned for both performance and style, the automobiles in this show were chosen for largely aesthetic reasons.

Ettore Bugatti, who had also learned to work with his hands in Carlo's shop, abandoned his formal education in art when he realized that Rembrandt had greater natural talent. He turned to designing motorized vehicles, and in 1899 created a tricycle with a motor for each rear wheel. Two years later, Ettore's first car was exhibited in Milan and won an award. Shortly after, he married and moved to Alsace, and later to Cologne, supplying his engine and car designs to various manufacturers who wanted to go into the emerging automobile market. He designed the prototype of the Type 13, his first commercial success, in 1908, the year before Jean was born. By 1910, Ettore opened his own factory in Molsheim, and even though the war soon temporarily disrupted his progress, he enjoyed a series of legendary automotive successes. His Type 35 won over 1,000 races between 1924 and 1930. The Type 57 was the most commercially successful Bugatti car with 680 built between 1930 and 1940. The Atlantic Type 57SC included in this exhibition was designed by Jean and is considered by many to be the most beautiful automobile ever made. In 1936, Jean became the effective chief at the Molsheim works, but his career was tragically cut short in 1939 when he was killed in a crash while testing one of his Le Mans race cars.

Throughout history there have been multiple generations of artists within the same family in many artistic disciplines: the Bach family and the Strauss family in music; the Barrymore, O'Neill, and the infamous Booth families in the theatre; and the Caracci, Tieplo, and Breugel families of painters. But according to Henry Hawley, what separates the Bugatti from most of the other famous artistic families is that they each had a different medium for expression. "Typically, secrets of production are passed through family lines. The Bugatti were not that way. If they shared anything, it was the desire for originality and working with their hands. Carlo Bugatti, who was ambidextrous, emphasized the importance of using both hands to his sons as they worked alongside him in his shop. The only visual motif that they seemed to have shared was the ovoid shape which Carlo encouraged, it is said, because it reflected the natural beauty of the egg."

Public Programs

A variety of public programs is being offered throughout the run of the Bugatti exhibition starting on the opening day, Sunday, July 18, with A Gathering of Automotive Excellence. Ohio and Midwest owners of elegant vintage cars from the 1920s and 1930s will be traveling to Cleveland in celebration of the Bugatti exhibition. Their vintage vehicles will be proudly displayed free to the public on Wade Oval across from the CMA from noon to 4 p.m. Co-sponsored by the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum and the CMA. (Rain date: July 25.)

The Crawford museum will also offer guided tours of cars in its collection whose designs broke established rules or set standards for years to come. Called "The Art of the Car," theses new talks will be presented Wednesday and Fridays at 1 p.m. from July 31 through September 17.

Véronique Fromanger des Cordes, from the Rembrandt Bugatti Conservatoire, Paris, France leads off a series of free lectures at CMA on Wednesday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. She authored the chapter on the sculptor in the catalogue accompanying this exhibition. Exhibition curator Henry Hawley will give a lecture on Carlo Bugatti's furniture on Friday, August 20, at 6:30 p.m. (seating is limited). Bugatti Under the Hood: Form and Function, a members-only lecture, will be given by Donald Koleman, President, Competition Motors Ltd., Salem, Mass., on Friday, July 23 at 6 p.m. Mr. Koleman is a Bugatti historian and restorer, and drives vintage Bugatti race cars. On Wednesday, September 1 at 7 p.m., Guiseppe Delena, Chief Designer, Corporate Design for Ford Motor Company, and graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, will give a lecture entitled The Cleveland Institute of Art's Contribution to the American Automotive Industry.

Free drop-in family workshops for all ages will be held every Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the interior Garden Court. Using the theme "Creatures, Cars and Crafts," art projects will be based on Bugatti designs.

Catalogue

The 120-page catalogue that accompanies the exhibition includes essays by curator Henry Hawley, Véronique Fromanger des Cordes, and Bugatti automobile historian Mickey Mishne as well as a reminiscence of the Bugatti family by L'Ebe Bugatti. The book contains the latest available research on the Bugatti family. Beautifully illustrated with over 150 mostly-color pictures and vintage black and white photographs, the Bugatti catalogue will be available in softcover for $30 and hardcover for $45. To order the catalogue by telephone, call (216) 421-7340, ext. 129.

Tickets and Information

Admission prices for Bugatti are $5 on weekdays (Tuesdays through Fridays); $7 on weekends (Saturday and Sunday). Children ages 6-11 are $3 and children under age 6 are free on all days. Discounts are available for students and groups. Admission to the permanent galleries of the museum is free. Hours of the museum and for the exhibition are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays; Wednesday and Friday evenings until 9 p.m.; closed Mondays. For information about exhibitions or general information about the CMA, call the museum's Ticket Center at (216) 421-7350, or outside Cleveland toll-free at 1-888-CMA-0033

Buy Bugatti Tickets online now--link directly to Ticketslive.

Organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, Bugatti is sponsored by Park-Ohio Industries, Inc. with additional support from KeyCorp. Promotional support provided by The Plain Dealer.