Works of Art
Works of Art
Masterpiece motorcycles at the Guggenheim Museum
DAVID EDWARDS
STRANGE THING SEEING YOUR VERY OWN MOTORCYCLE UP ON A pedestal in one of the world's great art museums. Strange thing seeing any motorcycle in any art museum, really. But there was my 1940 Indian bob-jobber, plucked from the ordinary suburban SoCal garage where it usually resides and installed in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Fancy digs for a hot-rod Sport Scout. The bobber and my restored Honda CB750 Four join 109 other bikes for "The Art of the Motorcycle" exhibition, running through September 20, which in terms of public visibility may be the most important collection of motorcycles ever assembled. It took guts for the Guggenheim to mount this show. Rival gallery the Museum of Modern Art, for instance, poo-poohed the idea of a motor cycle exhibit several years ago, and despite the fact that MOMA's permanent collection includes helicopters and automobiles, it actually turned down the donation of a Ducati 916. Ingrates. BMW is the primary sponsor of the Guggenheim show, which drew conflict-of-interest flak from the easily tweaked art community, until it was pointed out that BMW had no say in final bike choice-and besides, there are just six Beemers included, as opposed to nine Harley-Davidsons and eight Hondas. Some conflict.
Gearheads will find treats aplenty inside Frank Lloyd Wright's swirling showpiece, including an evil-looking Glenn Curtiss V-8 record-setter, the goofball Bohmerland, big enough to carry six, and a positively carnal MV Agusta F4 destined for the King of Spain, an ardent rider apparently. Otis Chandler's collection of early American models is fast becoming the best of its kind. Several are here. And then there's the trés formidable French machines, enchantresses one and all. From the Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede, never before displayed in the U.S., to the all-alloy MGC to the outlandish Majestic 350 to the sole-surviving Dollar V4. . .well, have a look at the photos. Dazzling.
Not all the bikes are as spectacular, which is the only real hiccup here. Several landmark bikes in this exhibit-the Vincent Black Shadow, Indian Chief and Honda Benly SS come to mind-simply aren't outstanding examples of the type. The Henry Ford Museum lent its RC 161 four-cylin der racebike, a personal gift from Soichiro Honda, but should be brought up on charges for the sorry state the bike is in. An embarrassingly shoddy Elf racer has no business in the museum. There's also a tatty Yamaha RD350 that probably should have been left curbside, and while the original Honda Gold Wing is an important model historically, it's hardly an artistic triumph.
Several machines are notable by their absence. Why no art-deco Harley Knucklehead, for example? Why no current Grand Prix roadracer? How did a run-of-the-mill Ki 100RS BMW get the nod while the Ki starship was given a cold shoulder. And in a display dedicated to the art of the motorcycle, where's the Arlen Ness custom?
Of course, these particulars are lost on the general public, as they should be. For most Guggenheim goers, I suspect, this is not just the best motorcycle show they've ever seen, it's the only motorcycle show they've ever seen. The day I visited, bright-eyed school kids scampered from bike to bike, pointing, asking questions-talk about your ultimate field trip. Elsewhere, a crisply blazered museum guide escorted a small group of mostly senior citizens, giving pretty good com mentary on select bikes if my eavesdropping was any indication. Tourists from several countries mingled with college design stu dents, Bronx bikers and young families on sightseeing sprees. All very eclectic. Reviews in the mainstream press have been overwhelmingly favorable. The New York Times gave a big thumbs-up, as did the Daily News and the Washington Post.
And how's this for a testimonial? "A daring, delightful exhibi tion.. .the best thing in New York right now, a summer must for any one interested in art and design, quite apart from the show's appeal to people who know and enjoy motorcycles." That's a quote from-get this-the Wall Street Journal. So, the show is an unqualified success. On its first weekend, "The Art of the Motorcycle" " `7 set all-time attendance records for a Guggenheim opening of any kind. An average of 3000 people a day continue to file past the dis plays. Other museums have taken notice, too. Pared down to 72 bikes, the exhibit will travel, first to the Field Museum in Chicago for a November 7-March 21 run, then on to the new Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, a stunning titanium edifice penned by Frank Gehry, the ` architect responsible for armor-plating the Goog's usually whitewashed rotunda for this show. And there's talk of taking the show to Berlin, Vienna, London, maybe even Tokyo.
I just hate it when my bikes are better-traveled than me.
