Exhibition Highlights

Carlo Bugatti (1856-1940)

Secretary and Chair (ca. 1898, Clinton Howell Antiques & Fine Art, New York). This set is made of walnut, with parchment, hammered copper, inlays of brass, pewter, and ivory, with a mirror. The large, almost circular decoration in the center of this tall piece of furniture forms the exterior surface of a flap that folds down to form a writing table.

Cobra Chair (1902, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh). Designed to furnish Carlo's "Snail Room" at the Turin exposition of 1902, the seat and back of this chair are joined into a single continuous curved form, giving it a futuristic look. The innovative use of a cantilevered seat in this design anticipates an important feature of many chairs made later in the 20th century, especially some employing bent wood or tubular steel frames. This piece also shows how Carlo had begun completely covering his furniture in parchment, a technique which hid all joints. Decorations are made of hammered copper, pencil and paint.

Tea Set, Salver, and Table (ca. 1907, Cleveland Museum of Art). Together with some now-missing cups, these objects were designed as an ensemble. The table, probably mahogany, is inlaid with ivory or bone, metal, and mother-of-pearl, and has cast and gilded bronze mounts. The tea set is made of silver with ivory handles. The matching salver is made of hammered silver, with ivory handles. A tour de force of Carlo's furniture and silverwork, the set was probably acquired in 1907 at the Galerie Hébrard in Paris by Anna Blake, a wealthy South African woman. It is said that Carlo Bugatti's work appealed to her because it reminded her of Africa. Some of his animal and insect motifs suggest mythical beasts or the fossils of prehistoric animals. When Mrs. Blake returned to Cape Town, she took these and other pieces designed by Bugatti with her, and they remained in South Africa until about twenty years ago. They were discovered by Henry Hawley in London on two separate occasions, ten years apart.

Rembrandt Bugatti (1884-1916)

Panther Walking (1903, The Cleveland Museum of Art). This is among the first wild animal images Rembrandt created after his encounter with them in the historic zoo, Jardin des Plantes in Paris. His earliest bronzes, like his Cow (1901, Private Collection), were mostly of domestic animals and were created while he was still living in Milan.

Great Anteater (1909, Private Collection). Unlike most animal representations, this sculpture does not display its subject in profile. For this reason it has been described as unique.

Reclining Nude Athlete (1907, Sladmore Gallery, London). The man depicted closely resembles Armand de Guiche, a close friend of the Bugatti family. Although animals were his special forte, Rembrandt Bugatti also undertook representations of human beings, both male and female, nude and clothed.

Ettore (1881-1947) and Jean Bugatti (1909-1939)

Type 41 Royale (1930-31, Collections of Henry Ford Museum) was one of the largest, most expensive passenger cars ever built with a price tag of about $40,000 ($150,000 equivalent in today's market) for the chassis alone. It was originally intended for sale to monarchs, but none was ever bought by royalty. A truly remarkableand rarecar, only six were ever made. Its 14'2" wheelbase made it 1½ times the length of most luxury cars then or now, and its 13-liter, 300 horsepower engine had almost three times the displacement of current Cadillacs. It was built to exacting standards and above its radiator grill cap perched a replica of a Rembrandt Bugatti elephant sculpture. This Royale incorporates one of Jean Bugatti's most fantastic designs. Built for a German doctor who brought it to the U.S., the car surfaced in a New York junkyard in 1943 and was bought and restored by a General Motors executive, who eventually gave it to the Ford Museum.

Type 55 Roadster (1934, Oscar Davis, New Jersey) shares the engine of the Type 51 (also shown in this exhibition), but any similarities end there. The elegant body of the Type 55, with its sweeping fenders and ample trunk, was meant for the open road. Some closed coupe versions were made, but most were open roadsters with no doors. Only 38 of these beautiful cars were built, and of these only 27 are now known to exist. Ironically, while no Royale ever belonged to royalty, the King of Belgium did, in fact, own a Type 55.

Type 57SC Atlantic (1938, Mr. Ralph Lauren, New York) was the firm's most commercially successful model and the fastest stock passenger car of its day. One driven by Robert Benoist in 1936 set (and for decades held) a record by averaging 135 mph for an hour. In this Atlantic, "SC" denotes sport chassis with supercharged engine. Jean Bugatti designed the sleek Atlantic body, characterized by a ridge through its middle. There were many body