The Rago Arts and Auction Center hosts an open house on Tuesday, March 24 featuring photographer Michael Furman, photographer of the world’s most significant cars. Michael will speak on “The Art of the Automobile” at 6 pm.

Everyone wants a piece of the past – especially if it is a historically or artistically important piece.  The automobile has matured from its earliest days as a curiosity to a conveyance; evolving from the carriage to the horseless carriage; from a necessity to statement of ownership; from practicality to artistic form; from a preview of the future to the definitive social commentary of the past century. The automobile’s history is a timeline of our industrial growth, our social changes and political direction.  As the automobile has become more prominent, so has its collectability. The first collectors acquired cars that they liked, very often relating to the first cars of their youth.  As these young collectors gained more wealth, they were able to purchase the cars of their dreams.  The proliferation of concours d’elegance put these cars on a pedestal, a spotlight on the craftsmanship of the restorers.  Michael will present a number of these great cars and lead a discussion on the growing interest in collecting cars. 

As a young boy, Michael Furman first picked up a camera to photograph a 1963 Corvette Split Window Coupe. And thus began a life-long love affair with cars and cameras. Michael studied photography at the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology, earning a Fine Arts degree in 1974. Upon graduation, he opened his studio in his native Philadelphia, and built a successful business shooting still life assignments for major advertising and corporate clients. But it was a long-standing love of cars that led him to the challenge of shooting cars in the studio. While shooting new cars for the major manufacturers, Michael was asked to shoot a number of vintage automobiles and motorcycles. He instantly became enamored with these elegant forms; this new path leading to his position as the most sought-after photographer of significant automobiles in the world.

Michael’s published works include: Motorcars of the Classic Era; Automobiles of the Chrome Age, 1946-1960; The Art and Colour of General Motors; Speed, Style and Beauty, The Cars of the Ralph Lauren Collection; Delahaye Styling and Design; The Art of Bugatti: Mullin Automotive Museum; The Spirit of Competition; French Curves; Vitesse-Élégance: French Expression of Flight and Motion; Automotive Jewelry, Volumes I and II; and Porsche Unexpected: Discoveries in Collecting; Curves of Steel.

Major exhibitions have included Auto/Photo: American Car Culture in Photography at the Hunan Provincial Museum in Changsha, China, Michael Furman at The Automotive Hall of Fame, Legendary Italian Automobiles at the Alden B. Dow Museum in Midland, Michigan and in 2011 The Ralph Lauren exhibit in Paris. Michael is a regular guest lecturer at art schools and professional gatherings across the United States. He has also been honored by American Photographer, Communication Arts and PhotoGraphis, Auto Aficionado, Automobile Quarterly, Automobile Magazine and The International Historic Motoring Awards.

Michael is a founding board member and former creative director of the Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance. He holds the same position at UCP Motor Cars Under the Stars, a benefit for United Cerebral Palsy of Philadelphia, which he helped found in 2004. Michael is a long-standing sponsor and supporter of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering and Carmel-by-the-Sea events.

A book signing will follow the lecture.

The auction house opens on Tuesday, March 24 at noon. A reception begins at 5 p.m. Michael will speak at 6 p.m.

RSVP to 609.397.9374 ext. 119 or raac@ragoarts.com. If you unable to RSVP in advance, please join us if you can; all are welcome.

About Rago Arts and Auction Center

Rago is a leading U.S. auction house with $30 million in annual sales. It serves thousands of sellers and buyers yearly with a singular blend of global reach, personal service and competitive commissions for single pieces, collections and estates. Rago holds auctions of 20th/21st c. design, fine art, decorative arts, furnishings, jewelry, Asian, militaria, coins and currency, silver, historic ephemera, and ethnographic property. Rago also provides a range of appraisal services conducted by USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) compliant appraisers, performed to the highest standards set by the IRS, insurers and the Appraisers Association of America. Rago is located in New Jersey, midway between New York City and Philadelphia.