Future retro
Subtitle: drawings from the great age of American automobiles : selected from the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf collection
By: essay by Frederic A. Sharf ; with additional text by Richard Arbib.
Contributors: Sharf, Frederic Alan.; Sharf, Jean S.; Arbib, Richard, 1917-1995.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: MFA Publications; Brand: MFA Publications
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Boston, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 79
Subjects: Automobiles -- United States -- Design and construction -- Exhibitions; Design, Industrial -- United States -- Exhibitions
Genres: Exhibitions.
Description: "From preliminary sketches to carefully drafted renderings, these drawings showcase the beauty and ingenuity of automobile design in the heyday of American manufacture. Whether used to float innovations, showcase new developments, or promote the latest models, they are, first and foremost, examples of graphic art. Future Retro looks at cars from a landmark period in American automobile design, the 1940s through the 1960s, providing a rare glimpse into the thinking of premier Detroit car builders. The text discusses such matters as the role of the designer in auto styling, the influence of emerging technologies on postwar car design, and the ways in which these drawings depict a particularly resonant segment of the American dream. Over 50 color illustrations, many never before published, introduce us to cars that are both futuristic and retro, sometimes decidedly wacky (several were too outlandish to build), and always very, very, cool. Future retro offers a lesson in car creation and history to practitioners and students of graphic and industrial design - as well as to anyone who has ever felt the allure of the great American automobile."--Book jacket.
Notes: Published in conjunction with the exhibition "Future retro," organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from April 21 to July 20, 2005.
Table of contents: title: Designing the American dream : American car styling in the fifties and sixties -- Frederic A. Sharf; title: The drawings --; title: Considerations on automobile design -- Richard Arbib; title: List of illustrations and commentary.