|
|
Charles Sheeler, American; Wheels, 1939; gelatin
silver print. Founders Society Purchase, John S. Newberry Fund
and J. Lawrence Buell, Jr. Fund (F1983.124). Courtesy of the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston, The Lane Collection.
For his series of paintings on the theme of power for Fortune
magazine in 1940, Sheeler made a series of photographic studies.
One of his subjects was the wheels and disk driver of a Model
J3A Hudson Thoroughbred locomotive, one of the ten streamlined
versions of the engine designed to pull the legendary Twentieth
Century Limited. The train was considered the most beautiful and
modern steam locomotive for passenger travel in America.
Sheeler also saw the beauty and simplicity in the design and functionality
of this locomotive by focusing on the grace, contour, and elegant
power of the wheels. Aside from its use as a study for the painting
Rolling Power, Sheeler valued this photograph so highly that he
allowed fellow photographer Edward Weston reproduce it along with
his entry on photographic art for the 1942 edition of The Encyclopaedia
Britannica. |
|
|
|
|
