Classification: other workRead more: Guide to the Catalogue
Other Work
Grouped here are works that do not fall into this catalogue's other classifications of artworks or are considered sentimental gestures.
Catalogue entry
RLCR 2545 (RL 4360)
BMW Art Car
1977
Title Source
RLFAlternate titles and sources: Art Car Lichtenstein ("Pop Art Car") (RL Studio Card); BMW Racing Car from the BMW Art Car Collection (RLF)
Media
Automotive paint on BMW 320i Group 5 racing modelDimensions
51 x 189 x 76 in. (129.5 x 480.1 x 193 cm)Inscriptions
Signed rear bumper: rf LichtensteinPhoto: Courtesy BMW
Exhibitions
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, L'art et l'automobile, June 6–13, 1977.
BMW of North America, Inc, Montvale, New Jersey, Group show, Fall 1978.
Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art, Tennessee, Art Car, March 5–May 5, 1978. Traveled to: Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Ala., May 1978.
BMW Gallery, New York, Car As Art: BMW and 5 American Artists, November 1986–February 1987.
BMW Gallery, New York, Art Car '90, BMW and Five Artists: Calder, Stella, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Dine, October 1990–January 1991 (BMW Gallery 1990, color ill, color ills. [details], b/w ill. [at Le Mans, June 1977], front cover color ill. ).
Royal Academy of Arts, London, Pop Art, September 13–December 15, 1991 (only Cologne) (Livingstone 1991a). Traveled to: Museum Ludwig, Cologne, January 23–April 19, 1992 (Livingstone 1992c, no. 26 n.p. color ill. ); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, June 16–September 14, 1992 (Livingstone 1992a); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Montreal, October 23, 1992–January 24, 1993 (revised and re-organized with a selection of prints) (Livingstone 1992b).
Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, BMW Art Car Collection, May 23–June 27, 1993 (BMW 1993, color ill, color ill. [detail], b/w ill. [in progress], front cover color ill. [detail] ).
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, October 7, 1993–January 16, 1994 (only Munich, Hamburg) (Waldman 1993b). Traveled to: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Calif., January 26–April 3, 1994; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Montreal, May 26–September 5, 1994; Haus der Kunst, Munich, October 13, 1994–January 9, 1995 (included early works) (Waldman 1994); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany, February 8–April 30, 1995 (included early works) (Waldman 1994); Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, June 2–September 3, 1995 (included early works) (Waldman 1994); Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, September 21, 1995–January 7, 1996 (abridged version) (Waldman 1994).
Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Roy Lichtenstein: Imágenes reconocibles: Escultura, pintura y gráfica, July 9–October 18, 1998 (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes 1998, n.p. facing p. 9 color ill, p. 33 color ill. [details; with artist], n.p. following p. 215 color ill. [double spread] ). Traveled to: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico, November 5, 1998–January 31, 1999; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., June 5–September 30, 1999 (as Roy Lichtenstein: Sculpture and Drawings, revised and expanded) (Corcoran 1999, p. 51 color ill. [details; with artist], no. 74 n.p. facing p. 129 color ill. ); Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Valencia, Spain, October 21, 1999–January 9, 2000 (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes 1999, n.p. facing p. 9 color ill, p. 33 color ill. [details; with artist], n.p. following p. 215 color ill. [double spread] ); Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza, A Coruña, Spain, January 27–April 23, 2000 (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes 1999, n.p. facing p. 9 color ill, p. 33 color ill. [details; with artist], n.p. following p. 215 color ill. [double spread] ); Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal, May 11–August 15, 2000 (as Roy Lichtenstein: Imagens Reconhecíveis) (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes 2000, n.p. facing p. 9 color ill, p. 33 color ill. [details; with artist], n.p. following p. 215 color ill. [double spread] ).
Louis Vuitton Classic, Parc de Bagatelle, Paris, Automobiles Classiques in Louis Vuitton Classic, September 8–9, 2001.
Villa d'Este, Cernobbio, Italy, Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, April 22–29, 2002 (Annual Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2002, p. 49 color ill. ).
Milan, Mostra d'auto d'arte, April 30–May 7, 2002.
NRW-Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft, Düsseldorf, Germany, Auto-nom: das Automobil in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, September 15, 2003–January 10, 2004 (Lehmann and Osbahr 2003, p. 129 color ill. ).
Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg, Duisburg, Germany, Pop Cars: Amerika, Europa, April 25–July 4, 2004 (Leinz 2004, color ill, color ill. [with artist] ). Traveled to: Städtische Museen Heilbronn, Heilbronn, Germany, July 17–October 10, 2004.
Kassel Kulturbahnhof, Kassel, Germany, Auto-nom-mobile: das Automobil in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, January 15–February 26, 2006 (not in cat.) (Balkenhol, Olbrich, and Lehmann 2006).
Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, The BMW Art Car World Tour, September 14–October 22, 2006. Traveled to: Museum of Contemporary Arts, Shanghai, opened November 25, 2006 (as Art in Motion); Long March Space, Beijing, opened January 6, 2007 (as Art in Motion); Ayala Museum, Makati City, Philippines, March 3–31, 2007 (as BMW Art Cars); Foundation Hall, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, June 6–11, 2007 (as BMW Art Car, Australia); Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland, New Zealand, July 18–August 12, 2007; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Calif., February 12–24, 2009; Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal, New York, N.Y., March 24–April 6, 2009; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico, June 5–August 2, 2009; Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico, August 14–September 27, 2009; Polyforum Siqueiros, Mexico City, October 29–December 6, 2009; Art Sonje Center, Seoul, South Korea; Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, India.
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel, Sculptures on Wheels: Selected Cars from Israeli Collections and Roy Lichtenstein's Art Car, June 4–August 28, 2010 (Tel Aviv Museum of Art 2010, p. 6 color ill, p. 9 color ill, p. 112 color ill, front cover color ill. ).
National Car Park (NCP), Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, London, Art Drive! BMW Art Car Collection, 1975–2010, July 21–August 8, 2012.
Literature
Haug, Norbert. "Als die Bilder rennen lernten." Auto, Motor und Sport (Stuttgart), no. 19 (September 14, 1977), pp. 198–199 color ill. (double spread), pp. 202–203 color ill. (double spread).
T., J.C. "Disastrous for second de Cadenet Lola." Motoring News, June 16, 1977, p. 21 b/w ill. (at Le Mans, June 1977).
Flint Institute of the Arts. Art and the Automobile: An Exhibition in Honor of the Flint Institute of Arts' 50th Anniversary. Flint, Mich.: Flint Institute of Arts, 1978. Exhibition catalogue (1978 Flint Institute), no. 29 b/w ill. [not exhibited].
Wakefield, Ron. "Art and Business: Corporate Support, Munich Style." ARTgallery Magazine, no. 6 (September 1979), color ill. (installation view, 1978 Nashville Cheekwood at Huntsville Museum of Art venue).
"24 Heures du Mans: Hervé Poulain: 'Mes' peintres dans la course." Lui (Paris) (1989), pp. 66–67 color ill. (double spread, with artist), p. 67 color ill.
Hindry, Ann, ed. Artstudio. Special issue, Roy Lichtenstein, no. 20 (Spring 1991), n.p. facing p. 169 color ill. (at Le Mans, June 1977).
"Deichtorhallen: Roy Lichtenstein zu Besuch in Hamburg." Hamburger Abendblatt, February 3, 1995, p. 7 b/w ill. (installation view, 1993 New York Guggenheim at Deichtorhallen).
BMW Public Relations. Art Cars: BMW Art Car Collection: Kunst am Automobil/Automobile Art. Munich: BMW, 1998, color ill., color ill. (detail).
Nicholson, Geoff. "Pop Cars: Get Your Motor Running…" Modern Painters 17, no. 2 (Summer 2004), pp. 106–107 color ills.
Lenaerts, Bart. "Sur les circuits avec Andy Warhol et Roy Lichtenstein." Gentleman 2, no. 5 (May 30, 2006), p. 36 color ill.
Poulain, Hervé. Mes Pop Cars. Brussels: Éditions Apach, 2006, color ill., n.p. color ill. (double spread), back cover color ill. (detail).
"Les Pop Cars d'Herve Poulain: L'Art à Grande Vitesse." Rétroviseur. Special Issue, 90 ans, no. 228 (November 2007), p. 69 color ill. (at Le Mans, June 1977).
Archival Material
From RLF Archives: Minichamps reproduction
Photo: Courtesy RLF ArchivesClick image to view.
Painted by Lackiererei Maurer, Munich.
This race car competed as number 50 in the 24-hour race at Le Mans in June 1977 and was driven by the French Hervé Poulain and Marcel Mignot who achieved ninth place overall and finished first in their class.
Reproductions: In the years 2003–2005, BMW put out a series of 15 miniature models of the Art Cars. The diecast models in a 1:18 scale were made by Minichamps, circulation was 3000 pieces. The type-carmold was sold through BMW dealers, branch offices and museum shops.