H E A D S  &  T A I L S  

C O L L E C T I O N  

To paraphrase the Director of The Portland Art Museum, Brian Ferriso, in an article in the May 2021 issue of Sports Car

Market magazine, "In 1951 New York's Museum Of Modern Art mounted a show they called "Eight Automobiles" which

placed the automobile within the walls with other great works of modernist art. In doing so, design rather than solely

functionality, became an aspirational feature of automobiles and affirmed their place within the cantons of 20th century

art." My Heads & Tails series celebrates the forward looking, positivity and exuberance of late '50s to early '60s

Mid Century Modern period in American automotive tail-fin-tail-light and grille--headlight design, which was

like no other period before or after it in ways that we'll probably never see repeated again.

 

Mid-Century Modern is an American design movement in interior, product, graphic design, architecture

and urban development that was popular from roughly 1945 to 1969. The MCM design aesthetic grew out of the

1930s -1940s Streamline Moderné era and therefore is also modern in style and construction and is characterized by clean,

simple lines and honest use of materials and, like Streamline Moderné, generally does not include decorative embellishments

such as the Art Deco period that proceeded it did. And, because it covers such a broad period in history, it also encompasses

other more specific design styles as well including Atomic Age, Space Age, Googie Style Architecture and Eames Era.