(from BMW Press Release) The BMW Art Car was conceived in 1975, the year that French auctioneer and racecar driver Herve Poulain first entered 24 Hours of Le Mans. Searching for a link between art and motorsport, Poulain asked his friend, noted artist Alexander Calder, to commission a rolling canvas on the BMW 3.0 CSL that he would race. In the years that followed, this unique combination of motorsport and BMW design fascinated the famous artists of our time. Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol have all turned BMW racing cars into Art Cars.
The Rauschenberg BMW 635 CSi Art Car - the sixth addition to BMW's collection of 15 Art Cars - is the first in which the artist used photographic methods to transfer images (including images of famous, classical paintings) to the car. Rauschenberg extended his use of Art Car motifs in his six-part, 1988 "Beamer" series - presented as transparent films on enameled aluminum and using his trademark collage techniques. The paintings will be offered for sale from the artist's private collection.
The Rauschenberg car made its first appearance in 1986 at the BMW Gallery on Park Avenue in New York City, and in 1988 made its European debut in West Berlin. Since then it has been exhibited across Europe and was a centerpiece of the acclaimed 1997 Rauschenberg retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
Born in Port Arthur, Texas in 1925, Rauschenberg is recognized as one of the 20th century's most influential and prolific artists. He is credited with bridging the gap between the movements of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. A pioneer of the "Transfer Drawing" process, he experimented in technologically sophisticated combinations of photographs and drawings. As such, his trademark BMW Art Car design includes trompe l'oeil images of Bronzino's 16th century painting "Portrait of Young Man" and Ingres's "Odalisque."
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