Existing comment:
Austin Mecklem -- Engine House and Bunkers (1934):
Storm clouds blow and rain pelts down on the busy Hudson River port and rail hub of Kingston, New York. Artist Austin Mecklem lived in rural Woodstock, New York, but when the Public Works of Art Project called for artists to paint the American scene, he left his serene home to depict this gritty view of Kingston's shipping activity. The complex of dock cranes, warehouses, and steam trains struck the artist as characteristic of American life in the 1930s. He showed the scene in tones of red, green, and gray that stress the industrial might of men and machines moving freight.
Mecklem detailed his composition in a letter to Juliana Force, chairman of the New York Regional Committee of the PWAP:
"For subject matter I have chosen a familiar railroad scene with strong dramatic possibilities. It includes machine-shops -- [an] engine house -- bunkers -- roundtable -- water-tank and tracks stretching into the middle distance where a river and the buildings of a small town are discernible. The buildings in the foreground arrange in an angular pattern contrasted by the horizontal feeling of the town structures and the river bank, emphasizing the dynamic aspect of the scene. Distant ills faintly seen through the rain-swept sky complete the composition." |