My Little Man adores cars, so when I heard that the North Carolina Museum of Art was hosting a new exhibit of rolling sculptures featuring 14 art deco cars from the 1930s and 1940s, I knew we had to go.
The exhibit opened on a Saturday morning, and we headed to the museum early to check out the car show happening in the parking lot that day. I have absolutely no idea what sort of car this is, but I loved looking at the curvy lines of it. It made me think of an old-fashioned Mickey Mouse car!
That’s what I discovered about many of these – that while I don’t understand the ‘wow’ factor that car-minded people might get, the artistic quality of these vehicles when compared to modern-day ones was something I could relate to.
Inside the exhibit, this was my son’s favorite. He loved it – and while it looks small in the picture, it really wasn’t! It reminded me of an antique VW bus.
This Pierce Silver Arrow was really impressive. I thought My Little Man would totally love it … and he was talking about them before we headed into the exhibit itself, ….
but then he caught a glimpse of this one. We couldn’t do anything else until we had thoroughly examined it.
That’s where he spotted this Bugatti. This is his favorite type of car, and the details were fascinating. It was covered with obvious seams and rivets for the sheer beauty of the detail work! I don’t suppose this Bugatti was ever an everyday sort of car, but you just don’t see these kinds of curves on our cars today. While we know more about aerodynamics than in the ’30s, all models have very similar shapes. The way that the rivets decorated the metal seams reminded me of the way that people use overstitching to decorate special shirts.
My Little Man loved leading me to one vehicle after another, and I loved watching his excitement throughout the exhibit. It’s definitely worth the exhibit fee. If you’re anywhere near Raleigh, NC, in the next few months, go check it out.
To learn more about art deco cars, check out these resources:
What are your thoughts?