Moto Bellissima: Italian Motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s

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Moto Bellissima: Italian Motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s
New exhibition illustrates two decades of style in small-displacement motorcycles

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Italian propensity for artistic design, historically demonstrated in a wide range of manufactured goods, has perhaps never been better exemplified than in the beautiful motorcycles that graced Italy’s racetracks and roadways in the 1950s and 1960s. Over the course of two decades, an unprecedented number of Italian firms, many of them lost to history, produced a dizzying array of small-sized motorcycles for a country with a desperate need for mobility after World War II. These machines were created at a time of impoverished resources, but were consistent with a characteristically Italian insistence on producing, and demanding, objects of extraordinary design and beauty.  Nineteen motorcycles, ranging from singularly produced racers such as Carlo Ubbiali’s 1951 Mondial 125cc Bialbero Grand Prix to 50cc production bikes from the late 1960s, demonstrate that while necessity breeds invention, the results can be truly stunning.

Images from the exhibition are available for download at:  http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/sfo_museum/about/press_images/exh-motorcycles.html.

Moto Bellissima: Italian Motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s is located pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall Departures Lobby, San Francisco International Airport. The exhibition is on view to all Airport visitors from November 5, 2011 to April 28, 2012.  There is no charge to view the exhibition.

SFO Museum

SFO Museum was established by the Airport Commission in 1980 for the purposes of humanizing the Airport environment, providing visibility for the unique cultural life of San Francisco, and providing educational services for the traveling public.  The Museum has been accredited by the American Association of Museums since 1999, and has the distinction of being the only accredited museum in an airport. Today, SFO Museum features approximately twenty galleries throughout the Airport terminals displaying a rotating schedule of art, history, science, and cultural exhibitions, as well as the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, a permanent collection dedicated to the history of commercial aviation.  For more information, please visit www.flysfo.com/museum.

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