Notre Dame’s Snite Museum of Art will open a special exhibit called “Art of the National Sports Car” on June 13. This exhibit is made up of five sports cars from the collection of historic racer Thomas Mittler.
The focus of “Art of the National Sports Car” is to underscore how sports cars of the 1950s reflected the style and the culture of the nations that produced them. Included in the exhibit will be a 1951 Cunningham C-2R (United States), a 1956 Jaguar D-Type (United Kingdom), 1959 Deutsch-Bonnet Le Mans Prototype (France), (1959 Porsche RSK Spyder (Germany) and a 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial (Italy).
According to journalist and photographer Art Eastman, who produced the catalog for the exhibit: “The five automobiles in this exhibit represent America, England, France, Germany and Italy. Although a country’s culture and ideology were blended into every automobile it produced, the sports and racing cars displayed the purest national characteristics. Like a nation’s ambassador, they proudly carried their unique imprint to the world’s roads and racing circuits.”
The “Art of the National Sports Car” exhibit will be on display throughout the summer at the Snite Museum on the campus of Notre Dame. For hours or more information go to www.nd.edu/~sniteart or call (574) 631-5466
