Roaring - by Genevieve Cortinovis (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A richly illustrated catalog exploring the cultural significance and role of automobiles in interwar France.

Heavily illustrated, this catalog explores the role of the automobile as both object and subject in interwar France, a period of exceptional creativity, innovation, and turbulence. It untangles the impact of fashion, interiors, architecture, aviation, and the avant-garde on French automobile design and production. In turn, it highlights the bold, untethered visions of artists like Josephine Baker, Le Corbusier, Sonia and Robert Delaunay, and Jacques-Henri Lartigue who embraced the automobile as a provocative expression of the modern age.

Expansive and interdisciplinary, Roaring illuminates the richly creative ecosystems that nourished this golden age of French automotive design.

Review Quotes

"Some of the best (and most overlooked) books emerge from exhibitions. One this year is the marvellously illustrated Roaring: Art, Fashion and the Automobile in France, 1918-1939, from the Saint Louis Art Museum. In the spirit of Le Corbusier, who in Towards a New Architecture (1923) illustrated the Parthenon alongside a motor car, the essays in this catalogue unpick the links between the automobile and aesthetics more widely - including a nice discussion of Le Corbusier's design for a forerunner of the Mini (voiture minimum)."

-- "Times Literary Supplement, "Books of the Year 2025""

"Absolutely stunning. . . I am glad the St. Louis Art Museum saw fit to publish a hardbound book on the show because more of the public will realize car design did not evolve in isolation, that sometimes cars can reflect the art taste of their environment."-- "Coachbuild"

About the Author

Genevieve Cortinovis is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Associate Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Saint Louis Art Museum.