Photo Finish August 30, 2012

Cars are a pervasive symbol in American art and pop culture. Symbolizing such dichotomous ideas as masculinity and femininity, speed and leisure, industry and nature, the individual and the collective, and the glamorous and the mundane, the automobile lends itself to many interpretations. Photographers have long been inspired by the automobile, attempting to capture and examine its multiple meanings through a lens. This group of photographs from the UMFA's collection showcases the diversity of ways artists have depicted and interpreted the omnipresent automobile.