Art and motorcycles: today the words sit comfortably together, but in times past that pairing would be met with scoffs. While motorcycles have been explored as a subject matter for over a century, it took many decades for motorcycles to be considered a suitable medium for an artist with a respected career, or for ‘motorcycle artists’ to be taken seriously. It’s still a struggle, and I’ve had many conversation with ‘fine’ artists who fear being pigeonholed if they dig too deeply into their love of bikes. And yet they carry on because they feel compelled, and not because it’s a good career move. Some artists, like the Futurists in the ‘Teens, respond to the energy and freedom of motorcycles – their kinetic potential and implications for mobility. Other artists are passionate about riding, with an inner compulsion to explore motorcycles as their subject matter (e.g. Billy Al Bengston, Conrad Leach, et al.). And some artists – collectively known as customizers – approach the motorcycle directly as their medium, modifying them to suit their vision, whether as art per se or as a functional sculpture (e.g. Ian Barry, Ron Finch, etc).






Clearly a man of vision, Mr Dorr had previously been an Assistant Curator at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a curator at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, and was President of the Board of Trustees for the Shemer Art Center in Phoenix. ‘GH’, as he preferred to be called, came from a distinguished family line, as his grandfather Goldthwaite Higgison Dorr was a famous New York lawyer appointed to important Federal positions, and was something of a mentor to Richard Nixon at his law firm. If you’re a fan of the Coen brothers movie The Ladykillers, Tom Hanks plays ‘Professor’ Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr, who is visually modeled after the original G H Dorr’s famous goatee, which earned him a front page photo in Istanbul while an attaché in Turkey, as he ‘looked like Mark Twain.’ He’s even captured in Richard Nixon’s infamous ‘White House Tapes’ on August 18 1972, in which Nixon suggests G H spend his next birthday at the White House.


GH: As a boy in New York City and overseas just after WWII, motorcycles always caught my attention, and always ‘turned peoples heads.’ Years later, as Director of the Phoenix Art Museum in 1973, the motorcycle movie Easy Rider had become a cultural phenomenon inspiring freedom in style and motion. I thought it would be a novel and powerful idea to tap into that movement and bring that free-wheeling spirit of motorcycles-as-art to the people of Phoenix. And I believed it would further broaden the Phoenix Art Museum’s appeal to the wider community in Arizona and beyond.

GH: Especially so soon after some of the turmoil of the 1960s and early 1970s, the idea of bringing motorcycles in as art was viewed at the time as a bold experiment to say the least. It certainly pushed traditional boundaries beyond the usual art forms of paintings, photography, and sculpture. While the museum’s board of trustees approved the exhibit, some trustees were more receptive than others, and the ‘jury was still out.’ Nevertheless, I believed the exhibit would be a hit, bringing both art and motion to life.

GH: That was the secret sauce of this exhibit – sourcing the best motorcycles of all kinds, all vintages, all styles – and shipping them to the museum in time to prepare for the opening. Once we got the word out that we were putting on this exhibit, motorcycle collectors and aficionados came from all over, offering their bikes to participate in this pioneering event. When all was said and done – we had collected the finest and most diverse group of motorcycles ever. We had vintage Indians with bicycle seats, a Cyclone with bicycle tires, classic Enfields, WWII military side cars, BMWs, Harleys, and modern ‘Choppers’ of the 1970’s with their high handlebars, chrome, and customized artistic gas tanks. Those fashionable choppers of the time were popularized by movies like Easy Rider, so were right on trend for the times. One chopper even had a stunningly painted gas tank by the famous 1960s/1970s artist Peter Max.

GH: With all this horsepower in the museum, it was an absolute hit! Current members and patrons were joined by many new visitors, as young and old came from near and far to experience this unique gathering of motorcycles as art. It was thrilling to see so many coming to the Phoenix Art Museum and enjoying this event. The exhibit stretched the bounds of interaction with art, engagement with art. Looking back, it was amusing that the interest was so high that we even had to add signs and continuous security asking people not to touch or sit on the bikes!

GH: In the end this exhibit was a truly unique, pioneering experiment — ahead of its time in bringing exciting art to people and more people to art. Twenty five years later in 1998, it was exciting and gratifying to see that the Guggenheim Museum in New York held a similar and very popular “The Art of the Motorcycle” exhibit. We also had fun in the 1970s bringing the “Space Art Exhibit” to the Phoenix Art Museum and community (moonrocks, astronauts, and Bob and Louise McCall)!










Phew ! So it ( M/C art ) goes that far back . Wow … about the only M/C art I remember from the 70’s ( and I subscribed to Chopper Magazine etc ) was David Mann’s work in EasyRider , ChopperToons . and the occasional Rat Fink on a bike etc .
And from the photos .. a damn fine M/C art show this was . Damn … too bad it didn’t properly catch on till recently … and now here we are in motorcycling decline ….
Sigh … timing … it is everything … and more often than not … it bites you square on the @$$
Thanks for this PdL ..Even more would suit me just fine .
😎
In those times, in France any exposition about old and modern motorcycle was a big success. We where happy to
see anything with two or three wheels and an engine. We were at school and could only afford some third hand sport moped. Time are changing,. The offer in new motorcycles is without end, used ones are at low price, and people change of bike because they like the color of the new one. We used old bikes (much older than us!) because we like them…and they was affordable because not so much people had an interest on them…and they hadn’t electric starters.
For the joke: now in Europa mechanics pass their time fitting some electric start on the 500 Yamaha, Velocette etc..I don’t speak about 75 years old who think that they are 18 and buy some cafe racer and ask for bull horns to replace the
clip on (that i still use with pleasure on my Thruxtonized Venom).