By Mark Yost
Houston, TX, USA
If
there’s a modern-day Medici – in the automotive world anyway – it’s Peter
Mullin, the management guru whose love of all things Art Deco has changed the
very definition of Southern California car culture. He used his billion-dollar
fortune to first found the Mullin Automotive Museum, whose Art Deco
furniture, artwork and
grand Italian and French coaches from the 1920s and ‘30s
have made Oxnard, California, a must-stop for any serious car enthusiast. Still
unsatisfied, he took the long-languishing Petersen Automotive Museum, perhaps
one of the greatest car collections in the country under one roof, and breathed
new life into it with a total redesign both inside and out. The $90 million
makeover not only improved the display space and allowed the museum to show off
more cars, but Mullin created a $35 million endowment – something the museum
had never had before – to make sure that the collection and the space where
they’re shown never grow moribund again.
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| Peter Mullin |
The
Petersen renovation has also given Mr. Mullin a chance to display more of his
Art Deco collection, especially his cars. The latest effort is a new exhibit on
Bugatti, a brand name that defines the marriage of artwork and technology that
was a hallmark of the Art Deco movement (Mr. Mullin is also the president of
the American Bugatti Club and a member of the Bugatti Trust).
It would
be fairly easy for even the most lackadaisical car buffs to put together an
exhibit of the world’s greatest Bugattis, such as the 1932 Bugatti Royale, or 1936 Type 57SC Atlantic, which Mr. Mullin bought for a reported record
$35 million. But it takes someone with Mr. Mullin’s appreciation for the era,
as well as the breadth and the depth of the family whose name is on the hood ornament,
to curate something like “The Art of Bugatti,” now on display at the Petersen
in downtown L.A’s Arts District through Fall 2017.
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| 1932 Bugatti Type 41 Royale |
In
addition to the cars (we’ll get to those in a minute), Mullin uses objects –
from family patriarch Carlo; his son Rembrandt, a renowned sculptor;
Rembrandt’s daughter, Lydia, an artist in her own right; Ettore, Carlo’s son
who established the automotive dynasty; and Jean, Ettore’s oldest son, who took
the marque in new directions – to tell the story of this incredible Italian
family.
Carlo’s
milieu was Art Deco furniture, and some of his grandest pieces from Mr.
Mullin’s own collection are here, including a pair of silk fringed chairs,
circa 1900, made from walnut, pewter, brass and vellum, as well as a desk and
smoking table from the turn of the century that marry wood and metal, a
signature design feature of the Art Deco period. Also here is artwork from the
entire family, including Carlo’s oil on panel self portrait (date unknown), as
well as a circa 1910 oil on canvas Portrait of a Lady (Barbara Bolzoni Bugatti,
Ettore’s wife).
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| Pair of Silk Fringed Chairs (circa 1900) |
Although Rembrandt was primarily known as a sculptor, he also worked in pencil and ink and charcoal, producing sketches, such as Le Rencontre (The Encounter), and the charcoal and chalk Etude de Buste d’Homme (Study of a Bust of a Man). Lydia, who we learn was the only Bugatti with no formal training – she learned at the elbow of her grandfather – produced a circa 1930 blue pencil on paper sketch entitled Siblings, as well as a rare Leaping Greyhound Radiator Badge Sketch, also from about 1930.
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| Leaping Greyhound Radiator Badge Sketch |
While
these artworks are important to understanding the depth and breadth of the
talent of the Bugattis, it is Ettore and Jean’s “artworks” that take center
stage here – and rightfully so. I tend to like the long-nosed coupes of the
1930, especially the 1931 Bugatti Type 54. As the exhibit notes explain,
“Bugatti developed the Type 54 as a
competitor to the high-powered race cars
from Germany and Italy. But whereas previous Bugatti race cars had focused on
finesse, this model focused on power and its 4.9-liter engine was so large and
heavy that it made the car difficult to handle. At times the vehicle’s weight
and power caused the tires to detach from the rims, resulting in a large number
of crashes. Consequently, it was not a successful competitor and very few were
built.”
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| 1931 Bugatti Type 54 |
I also
like the look of the 1928 Type 43 44, which the exhibit explains was one of the
first supercharged models to be offered to amateur drivers. “The light chassis’
short length, narrow wheelbase, and supercharged engine made it suitable for a
variety of races and long-distance touring. After an unsuccessful race in 1929,
this car was stripped of its factory body and rebodied by Joseph Figoni.”
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| 1928 Type 43 44 |
That’s an
important footnote. The Bugattis were smart enough to realize that they
couldn’t do it all, and the partnership with Figoni was the first of many with
coach and interior designers. Another Bugatti partner was Corsica, the British
firm that furnished the bodies for at least 14 Type 57s.
And
then there’s the 1935 Type 57SC Atlantic, perhaps the greatest Bugatti of all
time. It was, the exhibit explains, the production version of Jean Bugatti’s
Aérolithe Coupe, which was unveiled at the 1935 Paris Auto Salon. “The riveted flanges
that join portions of the coachwork pay homage to aviation engineering and
emphasize the all-metal construction of the body. This prominent motif merges
art and technology into functional sculpture.”
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| 1935 Type 57SC Atlantic |
The
provenance of the particular car is equally interesting. It was originally
delivered to the third Baron Rothschild in England on September 2, 1936. “In
1939, Lord Rothschild had the Bugatti factory install a Roots supercharger from
a Type 55 engine, upgrading the model to a Type 57SC.”
It
eventually ended up with Robert Oliver, a wealthy American deployed in France
with the United States Army Medical Corps. In August 1946 Oliver shipped the
car to New York and drove it home to Los Angeles. “In 1953, he shipped the car
back to the Bugatti factory, where its engine was completely rebuilt and the
correct Type 57SC supercharger and hydraulic brakes were installed. The
Atlantic was sold in 1971 through public auction to Dr. Peter Williamson, who
paid an unprecedented $59,000.” It is one of the few non-Mullin Bugatti’s on
display here.
Fast
forward to 2017 and Bugatti is still setting the bar high in terms of the
marriage of art, design and engineering. For a limited time, the new Chiron,
the latest generation of Bugatti supercars, with a top speed of 261 MPH and a
price tag of $2.6 million, will be on display here. As the exhibit explains, it
is the first production car – only 500 will be made – to produce 1,500
horsepower.
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| 2017 Bugatti Chiron |
“The
Chiron is well-positioned to reach a maximum speed significantly above the
world speed record currently held by the Veyron.”
And it’ll
look good doing it, too.
Links:
Mark Yost
Mark Yost is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal and is the author of five novels in the Rick Crane Noir mystery series.
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Mark Yost is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal and is the author of five novels in the Rick Crane Noir mystery series.