The Motorcycle as Art: ‘Classic Motorcycles: The Art of Speed’

Reader Contribution by Richard Backus
Published on April 11, 2017
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Classic Motorcycles: The Art of Speed.Cover courtesy Motorbooks

Visually, there has never been another book like Classic Motorcycles: The Art of Speed. An examination of 50 classic motorcycles written by motorcycle author Patrick Hahn with photography by Tom Loeser, it is without question the most arresting and innovative presentation of classic motorcycles ever produced.

The motorcycle as art has a fairly short history, its path often tracked as starting with the Guggenheim Museum’s 1998 Art of the Motorcycle installation, an exhibit viewed by more than 300,000 people, the largest in the history of the museum. The exhibit’s success rested on the careful and insightful selection of machines and their display, providing an opportunity for the public at large to examine and appreciate the motorcycle for its historical, industrial and cultural impact — and as art.

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