A tribute to Italian car design, a tribute to the great masterpieces of Bertone coachworks. With the exhibition “Concept Cars: La Grande Bellezza”, the Erarta Museum in St Petersburg – continuing the important history of automotive design that began with the Lamborghini Legend Design exhibition – tells the story of the excellence, creative exploration and evolution of Bertone’s concept cars, always characterised by exclusive style and new technologies. Nuccio Bertone and his designers were able to boldly imagine the architecture of the vehicle by drawing on universal ideas of perfect line and form.
The exhibition, curated by Enzo Fornaro, architect and organiser and curator of numerous exhibitions in Russia, brings to the public’s attention six prototypes from different eras, built between 1984 and 2005: Alfa Romeo Bella, BMW Birusa, Cadillac Villa, Chevrolet Ramarro, Lotus Emotion and Porsche Karisma. These cars, characterised by their exclusive style and new technologies, represent as many concepts of automotive design, both aesthetically and in terms of function and technology.
All the models come from the famous Bertone Collection, a collection acquired in part (79 models), in 2018 by the Automotoclub Storico Italiano (ASI) preserving its preservation and dispersion. Since 2011, the Collection has officially been part of the “Italian Cultural Heritage” and is therefore under the protection of the Italian State. The exhibition includes a large collection of drawings and photographs that trace the impressive journey of Italian car design made by Bertone in over one hundred years of activity.
Also on display is a precious portrait of Nuccio Bertone done by Giorgetto Giugiaro, made available by the Nuccio Bertone Foundation, as a reminder of the teaching that Bertone passed on to the young Giugiaro at the time, as well as to all the other designers who have been at Bertone. This superb exhibition is completed by a number of drawings from the Italian State Archives that are part of the historic Bertone Archive, the “Figurini” that accompanied the presentation of new models and some special mementos linked to motor racing, for which Bertone designed highly successful models, first and foremost the legendary Lancia Stratos. The exhibition is open until 11 April 2021 at the Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art in St Petersburg.
