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Maker(s):Sheeler, Charles
Culture:American (1883 - 1965)
Title:Rolling Power
Date Made:1939
Type:Painting
Materials:oil on canvas
Place Made:United States
Measurements:Frame: 22 5/8 in x 37 5/8 in x 2 3/4 in; 57.4 cm x 95.5 cm x 7 cm; stretcher: 38.1 cm x 76.2 cm; 15 in x 30 in
Narrative Inscription:  signed and dated in black paint at lower right: Sheeler - 1939
Accession Number:  SC 1940.18
Credit Line:Purchased with the Drayton Hillyer Fund
Museum Collection:  Smith College Museum of Art
1940_18.jpg

Currently on view

Description:
close-up of side of engine, focusing on the two large wheels and all the attached mechanisms, steam visible at lower front right, transportation

Label Text:
Rolling Power is a depiction of a section of the running gear of a Hudson locomotive, which was designed to haul New York Central passenger cars at speeds above 100 miles per hour. In 1939 it was the most efficient and powerful railroad engine available. Sheeler painted it in pristine condition, celebrating its power in the crisp, hard outlines of the Precisionist style with which much of his work is associated. Sheeler painted Rolling Power as part of a series commissioned by Fortune magazine on industrial power in the United States. Because it took him three months to complete the painting, during which, as he said, he could not "camp beside" his subject, Sheeler photographed the engine to aid him in rendering its intricate details. One of these photographs, known as Drive Wheels, is also in the museum's collection.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1940.18

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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