Special Exhibit Reception for "Built to Better the Best"

Date and Time

• Saturday, Aug 9, 2025  5pm - 7pm

Location

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Details

Special Exhibit Reception for "Built to Better the Best: OWL & the Marketing of the Kaiser Frazer Car"

Join us for an opening reception celebrating this new exhibition on August 9 from 5-7pm. Meet the collector, Dr. Charles Sims, and speak with the guest curators of the collection, Dr. Rene Casanova and Anthony Casanova. Admission to the reception is $5 per person / free for members.

The exhibit:
Working under George Valentine Enell & Associates, and later assigning his own OWL with a flourish, O. Winston Link commercially photographed aspects of the Kaiser Frazer Car Corporation, highlighting the versatility and elegance of the modern postwar car. Founded by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and automobile executive Joseph Frazer after World War II, the Kaiser Frazer Car Company attempted to take on the ‘Big Three’ Detroit car manufacturers of Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford in creating affordable, streamlined, and innovatively designed automobiles at lower costs. Kaiser Frazer cars exploded on the auto market between 1947 and 1950, outselling Studebakers, Hudsons, and Chryslers; however, the appeal ran short, and the company merged with Willys-Overland Company to create Kaiser Jeep in 1953.

Showcasing a series of staged marketing photographs, press releases, interior images of the Willow Run factories and sales floors, as well as candid photographs of both Henry Kaiser and Joseph Frazer, "Built to Better the Best" showcases a small portion of the advertising relating to the Kaiser Frazer Car Company as photographed by O. Winston Link. These photographs illustrate Raymond Loewy’s influence on postwar Americana automobile design, while still maintaining the artistic flair O. Winston Link favored.

This Charles D. Sims M.D. Collection is sponsored by Arborleda Foundation for Disabled Children & Fine Arts, Maria Patricia Zuluaga C.E.O.

Built to Better the Best at the O. Winston Link Museum is sponsored by Duncan Imports & Classics.