Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Friday January 31, 2014 - Thursday March 6, 2014
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Wendell MacRae (American, 1896-1980), Burlington Zephyr, ca. 1930s, gelatin silver print. Gift of Russell G. D'Oench, Jr., 1991.30.36. Copyright © by the Estate of Wendell S. MacRae. Reprinted by permission of the Estate and The Witkin Gallery, Inc. (copy photo: R. J. Phil).

The excitement of speed and the metaphor of the machine join in images of airplanes, trains, and automobiles. This exhibition included William Henry Jackson's nineteenth-century celebrations of the railroad in the American West, Jacques-Henri Lartigue's action shots of early French automobile races, and the abandoned Ford cars of Robert Sheehan. Drawn from the permanent collection, the show also featured photographs by Berenice Abbott, Danny Lyon, Walker Evans, Louis Faurer, and Garry Winogrand.

Related events

Opening and reception: Thursday, January 30, 5:00 pm
Gallery talk at 5:30 pm by Clare Rogan, Curator

Driven by Desire: French Automotive Designs and Greater France
Talk by Stéphanie Ponsavady, Assistant Professor of French
CFA Hall
Thursday, February 6, 5:00 pm

Stéphanie Ponsavady spoke on French car culture and its relationship to the colonies throughout the 20th century. Far from being a peripheral market, the Colonial Empire was central to the French automobile industry's development, for instance providing rubber for tires and an exotic stage for adventure. Driving in Africa or Asia proved that "he who can do more can do less" as claimed in Renault's advertisements. Ultimately, the Empire embodied France's last automobile frontier. Ponsavady has published on car culture in contemporary France and French colonial Indochina.