Exhibition catalogue, published April 2025
This catalogue explores the role of the automobile as both object and subject in France between the two world wars, a period of exceptional creativity, innovation, and turbulence. It untangles the impact of fashion, interiors, architecture, aviation, and the avant-garde on French automobile design and production. In turn, it highlights the bold, untethered visions of artists like Josephine Baker, Le Corbusier, Sonia and Robert Delaunay, and Jacques-Henri Lartigue who embraced the automobile as a provocative expression of the modern age. Expansive and interdisciplinary, Roaring illuminates the rich creative ecosystems that nourished this golden age of French automotive design.
Authors: Sarah Berg, Genevieve Cortinovis, Pierre-Jean Desemerie, Ken Gross, Justice Henderson, and Daniel Marcus
Details: 208 pages, approx. 260 color illustrations; 10 × 11.4 inches, hardcover. Published by Saint Louis Art Museum. Production and design by Hirmer Publishers
Tamara de Lempicka, "Self-Portrait,“ Tamara in the Green Bugatti (detail), 1929; Private Collection, Switzerland © 2025 Tamara de Lempicka Estate, LLC, Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris, image: Art Resource, New York
