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The Art of the Motorcycle

Subject:	motorcycles
Nation/culture:	US and industrialized West.
Media:	motorcycles, film, speeches, memorabilia
Period:	20th century
Host:	Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Major lenders:	Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, Chandler Vintage Museum of Transportation and Wildlife
Financial sponsors:	BMW, Lufthansa
Opening Venue:	Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY June 26, 1998 (1998-06-26) - September 20, 1998 (1998-September-20)
Second Venue:	Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL November 7, 1998 (1998-11-07) - March 21, 1999 (1999-03-21)
Third Venue:	Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain November 24, 1999 (1999-November-24) - September 3, 2000 (2000-September-03)
Final Venue*:	Guggenheim Las Vegas, NV October 7, 2001 (2001-10-07) - January 6, 2003 (2003-01-06)
Total attendance:	2,000,000
Curators	Thomas Krens, Charles Falco, Ultan Guilfoyle
* Later derivative exhibits licensing the name were put on by Wonders: The Memphis International Cultural Series and the Orlando Museum of Art, and others, using some of the original catalog and a variety of interior designs, but not curated by the Guggenheim.
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The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition presented 114 motorcycles chosen for their historic importance or design excellence in a display designed by Frank Gehry in the curved rotunda of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, running for three months in late 1998. The exhibition attracted the largest crowds ever at that museum, and received mixed but positive reviews in the art world, with the exception of some art and social critics who rejected outright the existence of such a show at an institution like the Guggenheim, condemning it for excessive populism, and for being compromised by the financial influence of its sponsors.

The unusual move to place motorcycles in the Guggenheim came from director Thomas Krens, himself a motorcycling enthusiast, supported by a novel corporate tie-in with BMW. The motorcycles were chosen by experts including Krens, physicist and motorcycling historian Charles Falco, Guggenheim advisers Ultan Guilfoyle and Manon Slone, and others. The exhibition was described by historian Jeremy Packer as representing the end of a cycle of demonization and social rejection of motorcyclists, followed by acceptance and reintegration that had begun with the mythologized Hollister riot of 1947 and ended with the high-end marketing of motorcycles and the newly-fashionable biker image of the 1980s and 1990s. Or at least the show served as "a long-overdue celebration of the sport, the machines and the pioneers they love."

The exhibit was the beginning of a new trend in profitable, blockbuster museum exhibits, foreshadowed by the The Treasures of Tutankhamun tour of 1972-1979. Questions over the museum's relationship with corporate financial sponsors, both in this show and the tribute to the work of fashion designer Giorgio Armani that followed shortly after, contributed to soul searching and the drafting of new ethical guidelines by the Association of Art Museum Directors.

Exhibition

The catalog of the exhibition covered a broad range of historic motorcycles starting from pre-20th century steam-powered velocipedes and tricycles, covering the earliest production motorcycles, Art Deco machines of the 20s and 30s, iconic Harley-Davidsons and Indians, British roadsters, and on up to the striking race replica street bikes of the 80s and 90s, ending with the MV Agusta F4. The idea of the show was to use motorcycles as a way of surveying the 20th century, exploring such themes as mobility and freedom in a way that cars can no longer do because they are too commonplace and utilitarian, while motorcycles retain a unique romance.

The interior of the Guggenhiem's spiral ramp was covered in reflective stainless steel, a design by Frank Gehry, with a stylized pavement under the tires of the exhibits, and the bikes not leaned over on their kickstands, but rather standing up, as if in motion, held by thin wires and small clear plastic chocks under the wheels. Early examples from the 19th century, steam cycles and three wheelers mostly, were in a single room near the entrance. The first series produced motorcycle, and the first motorcycle included in the exhibit catalog proper, the 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller stands outside the gallery. The exhibit also featured a film exhibit, "The Motorcycle on Screen," with Easy Rider director Dennis Hopper speaking, and clips from that film as well as the Buster Keaton silent film Sherlock, Jr., Andy Warhol's Bike Boy, and the TV show CHiPs.

The year 1998 coincided with the 50th anniversary of Honda motorcycles, the 75th of BMW motorcycles and the 95th of Harley-Davidson. Fifty-four collections loaned motorcycles, with the greatest number lent by the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, and the Chandler Vintage Museum of Transportation and Wildlife.

BMW's interest in the world of fine art was not unprecedented, as that company had experimented with commissioning prominent artists to paint some of their race cars in the 1970s', leading to that collection, the BMW Art Cars, becoming an ongoing project exhibited in major museums around the world, on display in 2009 in Los Angeles.

The Field Museum exhibition presented 72 of the original collection's motorcycles, and added details such as coverage of the Motor Maids women's motorcycling club founded after WWII. That show also added a participatory group motorcycle ride open to 2,0000 bikers at a cost of US$ 50.

Popularity

Average attendance was at 45 percent higher than normal, with over 4,000 visitors daily, and more than 5,000 people a day visiting on the weekends. Total attendance at the New York museum was 301,037, the largest in the history of the Guggenheim, and prompting the ad-hoc show at the Chicago Field Museum, where advance tickets were sold for the first time. followed by Guggenheim Bilbao and Guggenheim Las Vegas. The name was subsequently licensed for shows at Wonders: The Memphis International Cultural Series and the Orlando Museum of Art. Attendance at the Chicago exhibition was 320,000, the highest since the The Treasures of Tutankhamun two decades before. Attendance at the next venues, Bilbao and Las Vegas, was 250,000 each, for a total of over 2 million for these four shows, among the top 5 exhibitions ever in a museum. Many attendees attracted to these shows had never been to any museum before.

Sales exhibition's 427-page color catalog outsold any museum catalog yet.

Critical reception

Outright condemnation

The exhibition was condemned outright by some art critics and social commenters who rejected the very existence of an exhibition of motorcycles at the Guggenheim. They saw it as a failure of the museum to carry out its social role as a leader and educator of the public's understanding of art. Rather than guide the masses toward works they might not have considered or been aware of, The Art of the Motorcycle showed them things they already were familiar with, and already liked. In other words, pandering to the lowest common denominator by giving people more of what they wanted and none of what they needed. To the extent that the exhibition responded to desires other than what made the public feel good, the Guggenheim was in catering to the marketing needs of the shows sponsors, in particular BMW. They saw a great cultural institution renting itself out as an exhibition hall for a mere trade show.

In his book The Future of Freedom, journalist and author Fareed Zakaria argued that the Guggenheim's motorcycle exhibition, and other populist shows, were indicative of the downfall of American civilization in general, due to the undermining of traditional centers of authority and intellectual leadership. Zakaria writes that Thomas Krens' "gimmicks are flamboyant and often upstage the art itself." and that the point is not to get them to look at the art anyway, but only to get them into the museum. While not rejecting that modern and commercial work should be included in modern art shows, Zakaria says, with The New Republic's Jed Perl, that the show fails to "define a style or period" and instead merely parrots current taste, giving the public validation. Due to the overly dependent relationship with BMW, the show is driven by non-aesthetic criteria, and is too politically correct and uncontroversial. Zakaria goes on to point out that, indeed, the Guggenhiem gave up plans for a show "Picasso and the Age of Iron" because it was too old-fashioned to attract a sponsor, and that BMW turned down a request to sponsor a show "Masterworks from Munich" because Munich isn't sexy.

Zakaria equates sexiness and buzz with popularity, which drives profit, pointing to a connection between democratization and marketization. This means bad aesthetic choices will be made by the people, rather than having informed, aesthetically-sound leadership by aristocratic arbiters of taste whose wealth frees them from ulterior motives, enabling them to lead a reluctant public to perhaps challenging and unenjoyable art, that is nonetheless good for them.

These misgivings were cemented for many when the Guggenheim followed a few months later with an homage to fashion designer Giorgio Armani in a show whose financing was even more suspect. Armani had pledged US$15 million to the Guggenheim Foundation and appeared to be rewarded in a quid pro quo manner with an uncritical and otherwise unjustified marketing coup at one of New York's most prestigious venues.

This type of criticism was described by Jeremy Packer as an ad hominem attack on the stereotypical biker in service of a "rear-guard line of defense" of Western cultural and aesthetic values, perceived to be overrun by the "spiritually poor, oversexed, and insane." Such criticism was rebuked by Washington Post columnist Geneva Overholser as "dusty foolishness," a foot-dragging reaction to progress, in which some critics were hypocritically denouncing popular works in public while, in private, secretly enjoying the greater accessibility and relevance that was bringing in huge crowds, to the benefit of both museums and the public. Curator and Guggenheim director Thomas Krens defended the premise of the show saying, "We can't focus on Monet and minimalism too much. We have to keep the intellectual vitality of the institution sharp, and I think the bikes do that. They vary the rhythm of the museum and pique your curiosity about what the next show might be. This show isn't meant to be a thumb of the nose at art."

Newsweek critic Peter Plagens defended motorcycles as art by arguing that, "Just as aerodynamic airplanes are simple and streamlined, a motorcycle--which manages to balance an engine and a seat between two wheels--has a mechanical integrity, with intertwining pipes, chains and springs, that is fascinating to behold," comparing the aesthetic to the modernist, minimalist sculptures of Brancusi. Patrons need not feel guilty for enjoying themselves, because not all visits to a museum must be endured as grim ordeals of self-improvement.

Criticism of content

Among critics who accepted the premise of the show and the legitimacy of motorcycles under the Guggenheim's roof, since museums have included design exhibits before, and shown, for example, utilitarian bowls or ancient chariots as art, many still had misgivings about the way in which it was financed. While appreciative of Thomas Krens' innovative museum direction, The New York Times mused that, "one can't help wondering which came first, the idea for the exhibition or the realization that money would be available for such a show." A number of times the Guggenheim answered critics of BMW's involvement by ticking off the total number of Harley-Davidsons and Hondas, which were greater than BMWs included. But it was suggested that even at that, there were BMWs shown that weren't significant enough to be present.

With regard to the content, the concept that the motorcycle could serve as a metaphor for the 20th century was received with interest, but some wondered whether the claim was fulfilled by the appearance of the motorcycles chosen and the way they were presented. The motorcycles shown did, at least, "illustrate technology and taste as they have evolved together in the 20th century, which is an issue basic to modern art." While there were many who lauded Frank Gehry's spare design, with only the reflective stainless steel and a terse string of words on the walls behind the bikes to evoke the decade they came from, others saw this as shallow or a failure to offer as much insight as the show could have.

Some of the text was criticized as flippant, and the connection between the social and historical context and the motorcycle designs produced from that was left unexplained. Packer contends this "buzzword approach to context forces the viewer to fill in the blanks, and it also reveals the extent to which the museum display is predicated upon the assertion of a naturalized link between essentialized culture and the artifacts that are said to emanate from it," so the The Art of the Motorcycle was constructing the illusion that motorcyclists are a monolithic subculture rather than being different kinds of riders having "numerous relationships to motorcycling."

Packer also argues that "progressivist, developmentalist logic was underpinned by the chronological ordering" of the exhibits themselves, with the clean, productive member of the establishment image of motorcyclists found at the end of the progression.

The New York Times' Jim McCraw was satisfied that, "All the great bikes of the 20th century are represented," and the catalog is "impressive in its depth, breadth and purpose, worth several visits for avid motorcyclists." However, McCraw pointed out the following omissions: the Wankel engined Suzuki RE5, the inline-6 Honda CBX1000 (instead the less popular Benelli 750 Sei was included), any of the Japanese turbocharged motorcycles of the 1980s-1990s, the world's fastest motorcycle in the quarter mile at the time, the Yamaha R1, the motorcycle with greatest top speed at the time, the Honda CBR1100XX, and no police motorcycles at all.

Slate's Jacob Weisberg found 114 motorcycles in the catalog to be too many, and too boring for the non-motorcycle aficionado. In contrast to critics like Zakaria, Perl, and Hilton Kramer, who want museums to challenge and educate the public with difficult art like abstract expressionism, which might require a little homework to learn to like, Weisberg complains that the information accompanying the motorcycle exhibits is too technical and bewildering to the non-gearhead, with talk of self-aligning bearings, compression ratios and near-hemispherical combustion chambers. That is, "the approach is design-technical rather than design-aesthetic or design-cultural," and thus fails to make the case that industrial design is more than just the "stepchild of fine art" and that "the cross-fertilization of high and pop is an important part of the story of artistic modernism."

The selection of motorcycles was overwhelmingly Western, and mostly limited to motorcycles of the United States market, and mostly of the high end. One scooter is present, and one motorcycle truly for the masses, the Honda Super Cub. That motorcycles are the number one mode of transport in a great many countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, and thus central to the lives of most of the world's population was completely ignored by The Art of the Motorcycle, and little mention was made of the design context of creating motorcycles for this market. Even the critical role that motorcycles played as utilitarian transport prior to the advent of the Ford Model T was left largely out. Instead, motorcycling was seen through the lens of the late 20th century American: a form of recreation, and most of all, a form of self-expression. There were critics, such as The New York Times' Michael Kimmelman, who, somewhat playfully, shared this US-centric point of view, in that "motorcycles are frivolous to begin with: they're about irresponsibility, about not conforming, about getting away. Or at least they're about embracing the image of nonconformity."

Legacy

After the Las Vegas exhibit, derivative versions of The Art of the Motorcycle were presented at Wonders: The Memphis International Cultural Series and Orlando Museum of Art. The Legend of the Motorcycle Concurs was in part inspired by the success of the Guggenheim's exhibit. A group of celebrity friends of the "consummate showman" Thomas Krens named themselves the "Guggenheim Cycling Club" and rode motorcycles on various adventures in Spain and elsewhere. The Motorcycle Hall of Fame museum's 2008 Motorstars evemt, designed to "go even further" than the Guggenheim shows, was anchored by celebrity appearances, and included Krens and co-curator Charles Falco. A forthcoming exhibition at the Bermuda National Gallery, inspired by The Art of the Motorcycle, will use the idential concept of the motorcycle as "possible metaphor for the 20th century." Penrith Regional Gallery's curator was inspired in part by the Krens' success in New York City to create the 2009 Born To Be Wild: The Motorcycle In Australia, an examination of the motorcycle in contemporary art.

See also

• List of motorcycles in The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition
• Category:Motorcycles in The Art of the Motorcycle Exhibition

Notes

1. ^ Patton (2003)
2. ^ Albertson
3. ^ Edwards (2007)
4. ^ Past Exhibitions | The Art of the Motorcycle (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2009 Cite error: The named reference "GuggenheimNY1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
5. Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa (2009)
6. Past Exhibitions | The Art of the Motorcycle (Guggenheim Las Vegas), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2009
7. ^ Falco
8. There were also about a dozen pre-20th century motorcycles shown in the NYC show along with the 114 in the official catalog. Later exhibits in other venues made substitutions, additions and deletions from the original collection.
9. ^ Sawetz. "The Art of the Motorcycle is curated by Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, with the help of a team of experts: curatorial advisors Ultan Guilfoyle of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum and University of Arizona Physics Professor Charles Falco; exhibition co-ordinator Manon Slome, and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Curatorial Department. Works displayed are on loan from the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum, the Munich Deutsches Museum, and the Otis Chandler Museum of Transportation and Wildlife, among others. The exhibition brings together motorbikes renowned for their extraordinary design and innovative use of technology."
10. ^ Kinsella (1998)
11. ^ McCraw (1998)
12. ^ Plagens (1998)
13. ^ Packer (2008) pp 154-159
14. ^ Overholser (2008)
15. ^ Weisberg (1998)
16. BMW in the Community (2009)
17. ^ de LaFuente (1998)
18. ^ Kimmelman (1998)
19. ^ Vogel (1998)
20. http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Guggenheim__Solomon.html
21. Zakaria (2004) pp. 216-219
22. Zakaria (2004) pp. 218
23. Zakaria (2004) pp. 219
24. Zakaria (2004) pp. 220
25. Zakaria (2004) pp. 216
26. McCraw (1998) "The presentation is simple, straightforward and uncluttered. There are no rails, cables or cordons between the viewer and the motorcycles. The walls are stark white, and bare, with the exception of a historic-placement blurb at the start of each section, and there is plenty of light on the subjects.
    Mr. Gehry and his colleagues could have slathered the walls with film stills, advertising and poster art, but they didn't, and the exhibition is better for it. These are elsewhere, mounted in display cases along the rails of the walkways."
27. Sahlins (1993) essentialized culture: a supposedly unchanging inheritance, sheltered from the contestation of a true social existence.
28. Iles (2005)
29. United Nations (2005)
30. Hall (2008)
31. Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum (2007)
32. Bermuda National Gallery
33. Meacham (2009)

References

• Albertson, Karla Klein, Art On Wheels; The Art Of The Motorcycle; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Antiques and the Arts Online
• Bermuda National Gallery, Forthcoming exhibitions; Bermuda's Bikes: The Art of the Motorcycle
• Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa (2009), The Art of the Motorcycle - Keys Museo Guggenheim Bilbao:
• BMW in the Community (2009), BMW in the Community : The Arts : Art of the Motor:, BMW of North America, LLC
• de LaFuente, Della (8 October 1998), "It's Hog Heaven; Motorcycle exhibit roaring into Field Museum", Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, Illinois, p. 4
• Edwards, David (2007), "World Record Garage Sale; Otis Chandler auction brings $36 million!", Cycle World, Hachette Filipacchi Media, U.S.
• Falco, Charles M., The Art of the Motorcycle
• Hall, Landon (2 April 2008), "THE CLASSIC LIFE; More stars join Motostars exhibit", Motorcycle Classics, Ogden Publications
• Iles, Richard (2005), Public transport in developing countries, Emerald Group Publishing, p. 50, ISBN 0080445586, 9780080445588 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Kimmelman, Michael (26 June 1998), "ART REVIEW; Machines As Art, And Art As Machine", The New York Times, p. E35
• Kinsella, Eileen (22 May 1998), "Guggenheim in Rare Tie-In With BMW for Bike Show", The Wall Street Journal
• Krens, Thomas; Guggenheim Museum Staff (1998), The Art of the Motorcycle, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 0810969122, 9780810969124 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |editor1first= ignored (|editor-first1= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |editor1last= ignored (|editor-last1= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |editor2first= ignored (|editor-first2= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |editor2last= ignored (|editor-last2= suggested) (help)
• Meacham, Steve (28 January 2009), "Two legs good ... two wheels better", The Sydney Morning Herald
• McCraw, Jim (10 July1998), "Art That Stands on Its Own 2 Wheels", The New York Times {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum (13 December 2007), Museum announces major new exhibit, "MotoStars: Celebrities + Motorcycles"
• Overholser, Geneva (12 June 2000), "Museums are abandoning dusty foolishness", Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas
• Packer, Jeremy (2008), Mobility without mayhem: safety, cars, and citizenship, Duke University Press, ISBN 0822339633, 9780822339632 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Patton, Phil (11 April 2003), "DRIVING; The Racers Are Sleek, But the Track Is Sleeker", The New York Times, p. F1
• Plagens, Peter; Devin, Gordon (7 September 1998), "Rumble on the Ramps", Newsweek, vol. 132, no. 10, p. 80
• Sahlins, Marshall (March 1993), "Goodbye to Tristes Tropes: Ethnography in the context of Modern World History", The Journal of Modern History, vol. 65, p. 6, ISSN 0022-2801
• Sawetz, Karin, "The Art of the Motorcycle At the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao", fashionoffice.org – trend magazine, Vienna, Austria
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, The (2009), Past Exhibitions The Art of the Motorcycle (Guggenheim Museum Bilbao)
• Tenn WONDERS (2005), The Art of the Motorcycle, Memphis: WONDERS, ISBN 0892073241, 9780892073245 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help) Museum catalog based on an abridged version of The Art of the Motorcycle (1995)
• United Nations. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations (2005), Road Safety, United Nations Publications, p. 62, ISBN 9211204283
• Vogel, Carol (3 August 1998), "Latest Biker Hangout? Guggenheim Ramp", The New York Times, p. A1
• Wallis, Michael; Clark, Marian (2004), Hogs on 66: Best Feed and Hangouts for Road Trips on Route 66, Council Oak Books, ISBN 1571781404, 9781571781406 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Weisberg, Jacob (6 September 1998), "Exhibiting Contempt; Populism vs. democracy at the art museum", Slate, Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive Co. {{citation}}: Text "Jacob Weisberg" ignored (help)
• Zakaria, Fareed (2004), [[The Future of Freedom|The Future of Freedom: illiberal democracy at home and abroad]], W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0393324877, 9780393324877 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)

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