Photographer Alan Thornton working with a design and print making process employed by the legendary pop artist Andy Warhol has brought yet another iconic car to life, the 1969 Ford GT40 driven to victory at the 24 Hour of Le Mans by Jackie Ickx and Jackie Oliver. The collaboration between the Amalgam Collection and Thornton will offer a limited edition of 200 Fine Art Prints measuring 1.0 metre (38 inches) wide by 0.7 metres (27 inches) tall on archival paper.
What makes Alan’s work so desirable and memorable is his precise creative control over every aspect of the work, from photography through to the ink mixing and pulling of the prints. Rather than use a four-colour print process, each of the GT40 Fine Art Edition’s seven colours are defined and mixed to represent each element of the car’s paint and material finishes. The process demands much careful mixing of the inks and the hand pulling of each colour to manage the spread of the dots onto the paper and achieve the desired outcome. The resulting print has colours of great purity and intensity. Skilled technique and creativity are essential to every stage of this highly skilled craft. The process is sensitive to the touch, feel and technique of the printer, and as a result each print is unique. The meticulous nature of the process delivers works of extraordinary presence and depth.
Amalgam Collection and Ford
Amalgam is proud to be an Official Licenced Partner of Ford and Gulf Oil International, capturing iconic models from the marque in both fine model and art print format. The partnership began over five years ago, with the development of a 1:8 scale of the 1969 Le Mans-winning GT40, and now the collection also features an open edition of models at 1:18 scale, and a special limited 1:8 Race Weathered edition.
Amalgam Collection and Alan Thornton
Sandy Copeman, founder of Amalgam Collection, on the artworks of Alan Thornton: “Amalgam’s core mission has always been to capture iconic cars in supremely detailed large-scale models. When I met with Alan Thornton in 2020 it became clear to me very quickly that he was on a parallel mission to fully comprehend and capture iconic car designs and render them into perfectly worked 2D artworks. As with Amalgam’s models, Alan’s work exudes a passionate attention to the finest details, melded together to deliver a deep and powerful image of the subject car. Alan’s artistic comprehension of the car designer’s intentions, combined with his extreme technical virtuosity and a passion for the automotive subjects, results in very special artworks of great intensity and beauty. Presenting these works in person to the lead designers at Ford elicited an immediate and tremendously excited response, leading to a swift engagement and discussions about the most important classic and current cars representing Ford’s design DNA.”
The Ford GT40 & the 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours
One of the most iconic racing cars of all time, the Ford GT40 was born out of motorsport’s most infamous grudge, between Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari. The result was a car that was to defeat all before it, eventually securing four successive victories at the 24 Hours Le Mans. The last of these was in 1969, as GT40 chassis #1075, driven by Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver, survived mechanical mishap and impending pressure from Porsche to secure the Le Mans quadruple by just 120 metres.
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