Exhibition and Book Launch:
Auto America, Car Culture 1950s-1970s
Photographs by John G. Zimmerman
On view August 6 – September 4, 2022
Public Opening Reception: August 6, 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Special Monterey Car Week Hours: Open Monday, August 15 – Friday August 19 from 11:00am – 5:00 pm
Normal Gallery Hours are: Wednesday – Sunday, 12:00 – 4:00 pm

Auto America offers a compelling look at three decades (1950s-1970s) of America’s fascination with the automobile. At a time when self-driving vehicles and climate change are transforming driving around the world, John G. Zimmerman’s pictures capture the optimism and even utopianism of a beloved period in American car culture. The exhibition will feature 45+ photographic prints from the new monograph, Auto America (Rizzoli, 2022), and will coincide with Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Many of Zimmerman’s photographs were originally taken for LIFE, Time, and Sports Illustrated magazines and highlight diverse aspects of America’s auto industry at its zenith; they feature not only iconic cars of the period, which Zimmerman chronicled comprehensively at car shows and in studio assignments, but also a behind-the-scenes look at the people who designed, built, collected, exhibited, and raced them.

The exhibition celebrates the Rizzoli published book launch of Auto America which consists of approx. 224 pages and almost 200 photographs drawing on the Zimmerman Archive’s collection—including his best-known photographs of Fords, Chryslers, and GMs in their heyday alongside ephemera, tear sheets, and outtakes from his assignments. The book celebrates the automobile’s central place in American culture during those decades when the timeless silhouettes of classic cars ruled the roads.

Auto America: Car Culture 1950s-1970s
Published by Rizzoli, approx. 224 pages with introduction by Terry McDonell
Soft Launch: August 2022
National Retail Launch September 2022
More Info > 

About John G. Zimmerman
For four decades, John G. Zimmerman (1927-2002) created photographs known for their innovation and artistry. His work appeared regularly in LIFE, Time, Ebony and Sports Illustrated, and includes over two hundred magazine covers and ten Olympic games.

Zimmerman’s photographs have been exhibited at the International Center of Photography in New York, the Newseum in D.C, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum and in 2018 at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel with an exhibition titled America in Black and White.

Recent publications include Auto America: Car Culture 1950s-1970s (Rizzoli 2022), America in Black and White: Selected Photographs of John G. Zimmerman (Hannibal 2017) and Crossing the Line: Arthur Ashe at the 1968 US Open (Hannibal 2018). He is included in The Great LIFE Photographers (Bullfinch Press 2004).
For more information on John G. Zimmerman, visit www.johngzimmerman.com