Ettore Bugatti, Type 37 1926. Private collection, Melbourne

Adventures in design

20 January 2000

The Bugatti name is strongly associated with the car industry, but a fascinating exhibition at the NGV International Bugatti: Carlo Rembrandt Ettore Jean between 6 February and 26 April 2009, demonstrates the creative diversity and ingenuity of the Bugatti family and their impact on 20th century design.

"Whether one regards as more significant the Bugattis' successes or failures in overcoming the dilemma of art in the modern world, their creations are there to be enjoyed. Their efforts need no further justification than their achievements. We can only be grateful to an Italian family that has visually enriched the twentieth century with such original and delightful work," wrote Malcolm Haslam, in Introduction to The Amazing Bugattis, 1979.

The exhibition comprises over 30 works across a range of media exploring the remarkable creative output that emerged from this one family in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The work of the Bugatti family - three generations of Italian craftsmen, artists and designers – is as diverse as it is original. The exhibition includes furniture by Carlo (1856-1940); sculpture by Rembrandt (1885-1916); as well as cars by Ettore (1881-1947) and son Jean (1909-1939).

Dr Gerard Vaughan, Director, NGV said: "The furniture, sculpture and cars produced by these artists are truly remarkable, and this exhibition will include superb examples of their craftsmanship across all three genres. Very few works by the Bugatti family are held in Australian public collections."

According to Amanda Dunsmore, Curator Decorative Arts & Antiquities, NGV, the idea for the exhibition stemmed from the NGV’s acquisition of Carlo Bugatti’s Throne chair in 2006. "The patriarch of the family Carlo Bugatti is known for his idiosyncratic oriental-inspired furniture, of which the Throne chair is an outstanding example. Yet undoubtedly his greatest contribution to the development of 20th century design are his Art-Nouveau-inspired chairs from the Snail Room. They were exhibited at the First International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin in 1902 and won the most prestigious award, the Diploma of Honour. The NGV recently acquired the last remaining chair from the set of four to remain in private hands. This work forms the centrepiece of the NGV exhibition."


Carlo's youngest son Rembrandt Bugatti is recognised as one of the most talented and individual sculptors of the twentieth century, despite a career that lasted only twelve years. A deeply shy man, he led a solitary life with few friends but found refuge and the expression of his emotional world through animals.

His extraordinary oeuvre of sculptures was produced from the animals he observed at the Paris and Antwerp zoos. His innate empathy with his subjects is clear in their tactile and life-like qualities. Tragically, Rembrandt’s career ended when he took his own life in his Paris studio in 1916. For the first time in Australia, Rembrandt's intensely personal sculptures will be on public display.

Another highlight of the exhibition is the Type 37 racing car designed by Ettore Bugatti, Carlo's eldest son. Founder of the famous Bugatti car company, Ettore Bugatti was an artist who chose cars and their mechanical components as his subject. The Bugatti engine and bodywork designs are amongst the most highly resolved combinations of aesthetic form and function. The Type 37 in the exhibition came new to Australia in 1926.

Ettore's son Jean contributed some of the most adventurous bodywork designs of the 1930s to the cars produced by the Bugatti company.

A rare Type 57C Atalante designed by Jean in 1938 and brought to Australia in 1955 is also a feature of the exhibition. In another tragic turn for the family, Jean died in 1939 at the age of 30 whilst test driving a Bugatti car.

The collective achievements of this family represent a uniquely creative moment in the history of the art of the 20th century.

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