BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car Artist’s Proof

In 1975, Alexander Calder founded a series that now comprises 18 different works. The U.S. artist and sculptor was commissioned by French auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain to design a BMW 3.0 CSL for the 24-hou race at Le Mans, creating the very first BMW Art Car. While some artists painted their works directly onto the sheet metal of the respective models, Calder created precise designs and delivered them to painter Walter Maurer, who, together with his team, undertook the implementation on the 3.0 CSL. With large works of art, it is customary for the respective creator to be allowed to produce an Artist’s Proof. Until now, this hasn’t been the case with BMW Art Cars. On behalf of the Calder Foundation, which has been looking after the artist’s artistic estate since his death in 1976, an Artist’s Proof of the 3.0 CSL has now been produced in direct collaboration with BMW. Walter Maurer, Hervé Poulain and Jochen Neerpasch were also involved.

Alexander S.W. Rower, grandson of Alexander Calder and president of the Calder Foundation, first saw the original Art Car in 1976, where he was told by his grandfather that he wanted to create an Artist’s Proof, which couldn’t be done due to his death just weeks later. Since then, Alex Rower carried the desire and plan to realize this dream of his grandfather. Walter Maurer performed another proof of his extreme painting talent. The Artist’s Proof doesn’t differ from the original in any detail, no matter how small. To distinguish it from the original, it received the note “/AP” next to the identical chassis number 227592. For the first time, this vehicle will be on display from August 22 in the exhibition “Alexander Calder: Minimal/Maximal” at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, Germany. After that, it will be at The Bridge in Bridgehampton, New York, starting September 18. When both exhibitions are over, the Calder Foundation will make the car available to interested museums and exhibitors.

Images: BMW