Antique & Classic Cars Blog

As if their beauty, speed, utility and thrill capacity were not enough, cars also inspire great art.

Years ago, my brother gave us a wonderful Monaco print for Christmas. It proved instructive from the start. When I went to the frame shop (picture frame, not car, hence my general disorientation) with my wife and mother-in-law, they turned me loose with all decisions. I said yes to matte, yes to UV protective glass, and chose a frame with genuine silver leaf.

As a car guy, I gave these simple non-mechanical components a dismissive value of “oh, forty, fifty, dollars.” My jaw dropped a bit to learn my choices were over $500.

I managed to pay that off and the print is the centerpiece of our downstairs. But another challenge remained. Who painted the original work? The name appeared to be Gooham, or Gosham or Goottam. Internet searches yielded bupkiss.

Many of you will know that the signature actually reads Geo Ham, for French artist Georges Hamel. His work for automotive magazines of the time remains some of the most compelling ever created. I’d recommend a piece of his work for any car fan anywhere.

Just have your wits about you when you venture to the frame shop.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Car stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.