28

Mar

Photo Friday: The Rocket Takes Off (and Says Goodbye)

James Scripps Booth showing off the JB Rocket prototype in Indianapolis, the conclusion of a test-drive from Detroit to Indiana, 1913. Cranbrook Archives.

James Scripps Booth showing off the JB Rocket prototype in Marion, Indiana, at the conclusion of a test-drive from Detroit to Indiana, 1913. Cranbrook Archives.

Today’s Photo Friday comes courtesy of A Driving Force: Cranbrook and the Car. The exhibition, organized by the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research and hosted at Cranbrook Art Museum, features objects, renderings, and historic photographs that connect the Cranbrook community with Detroit’s long and venerable history of car production. And of course we also brought in actual 1914 car, because how could we not? Anyone who reads this blog regularly already knows quite a bit about the exhibition, so we won’t go on. If you haven’t had a chance to see the show, though, be sure to stop by Cranbrook Art Museum on Saturday or Sunday before the whole thing comes down once and for all!

– Shoshana Resnikoff, Collections Fellows

12 years ago Short URL 1 Comment

Exhibitions/Images

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10

May

Cranbrook and the Car, Part 2: The Rocket Arrives

Putting together an automobile exhibition without a car is like making a custard without using eggs: you can use other ingredients as replacements, but you’ll have a hard time achieving that perfectly smooth texture without them.    At the heart of any show about the automobile industry is the car itself.

It was with this thought in mind that I arrived at the Cranbrook Art Museum at 7:45 AM yesterday morning, eagerly awaiting the arrival of a truck that was carrying the eggs for my custard – a 1914 Scripps-Booth Rocket Cyclecar.

The Rocket arrives! May 9, 2013.

The Rocket arrives! May 9, 2013.

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13 years ago Short URL 2 Comments

Exhibitions

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21

Mar

Cranbrook and the Car, Part 1: The Aristocrat of Small Cars

In its 100-year history, Cranbrook has been known for producing artists, designers, scholars, athletes, and leaders.  But cars?  An upcoming exhibition mounted by the Center for Collections and Research (that’s us!) at the Cranbrook Art Museum will explore the relationship between Cranbrook and the automobile industry. Called A Driving Force: Cranbrook and the Car, it will highlight the history of Cranbrook through the lens of the automobile, detailing the ways that members of Cranbrook’s community have innovated and influenced the auto industry for the past 100 years.  You can learn more about the exhibition at Cranbrook Art Museum’s website here.

As we prepare to open A Driving Force: Cranbrook and the Car on June 12, we’ll be writing up occasional posts about the exhibition, highlighting bits and pieces of our research and providing glimpses into the down-and-dirty world of museum exhibiting.   And we’re going to kick it all off with the story of James Scripps Booth and the Scripps-Booth Company.

James Scripps Booth (behind the wheel) with brother Warren Scripps Booth in a Scripps-Booth 4-cylinder Model C at Tower Garage at Cranbrook House. Their father George Gough Booth stands next to the car, partially hidden by the windshield. Circa 1917, Cranbrook Archives.

James Scripps Booth (behind the wheel) with brother Warren Scripps Booth in a Scripps-Booth 4-cylinder Model C at Tower Garage at Cranbrook House. Their father George Gough Booth stands next to the car, partially hidden by the windshield. Circa 1917, Cranbrook Archives.

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13 years ago Short URL 1 Comment

Archives/Cranbrook Art Museum/Cranbrook House/Exhibitions

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