Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles

This is a unique exhibition of Art Deco automobiles from some of the most renowned car collections in the United States at the Frist Center for Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Inspired by the Frist Center’s historic Art Deco building, this exhibition features spectacular automobiles and motorcycles from the 1930s and 1940s that exemplify the classic elegance, luxurious materials, and iconography of motion that characterizes vehicles influenced by the Art Deco style.

Please click the photos for larger images:

1934 Model 40 Special Speedster™. Owned and restored by Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan.

1930 KJ Henderson Streamline. Collection of Frank Westfall.

1930 Jordan Model Z Speedway Ace Roadster. Collection of Edmund J. Stecker Family Trust

1936 Delahaye 135M Figoni & Falaschi Competition Coupe. Collection of Jim Patterson/The Patterson Collection.

1940 Indian Chief. Collection of Gary Sanford.

1937 Hispano-Suiza Xenia Coupe. Collection of Merle and Peter Mullin.

1934 Voisin Type C27 Aérosport Coupe. Collection of Merle and Peter Mullin.

1935 Chrysler Imperial Model C-2 Airflow Coupe. Collection of John and Lynn Heimerl, Suffolk, VA

934 Model 40 Special Speedster™. Owned and restored by Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan.

1934 Model 40 Special Speedster™. Owned and restored by Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan.

1936 Cord 810 “Armchair” Beverly Sedan. Collection of Richard and Debbie Fass.

1934 Packard Twelve Model 1106 Sport Coupe by LeBaron. Collection of Robert and Sandra Bahre.

1938 Talbot-Lago T 150C -SS Coupe. Courtesy Bill Marriott.

1937 Delahaye 135MS Roadster. Courtesy of The Revs Institute for Automotive Research @ the Collier Collection.

1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow Sedan. Collection of Academy of Art University Automobile Museum, San Francisco.

1938 Tatra T97. Collection of Lane Motor Museum.

1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt. Collection of Chrysler Group, LLC.

1939 Delage D8-120S Saoutchik Cabriolet. Collection of John W. Rich, Jr.