April 3, 2023
The private collection of more than 90 automobiles at the Newport Car Museum focuses on eight decades of modern industrial automotive design and celebrates cars as works of art. Separate galleries of cars from the 1950s to the present have been carefully curated to appeal not just to grandfathers, fathers, and teenage sons, but to men and women of all ages.
The cars reflect a time when artists who likely would have been the great sculptors in the Renaissance Age became stylists, designers, and industrial engineers for the Big Three American auto manufacturers and leading European companies. Something educational and inspirational is to be gained by the history, design, and beauty of these vehicles echoing the personality of these eras and further enhancing the modern design experience.
Visitors to the online “Galleries” will see, for example, the Fin Car exhibit, a tribute to the blossoming of automobile colors after the dark period that followed WWII when most cars were black, dark blue, and green. The flowers bloomed most brightly in the mid-1950s, with bright yellows, pinks, corals, and reds, testifying to life that was returning to normal, while the influence of the jet age spawned dramatic modifications to size, power, and design lines, the latter of which is best exemplified by tail “fins” that mimic those on the rocket and jet aircraft of the age.