Trains in art
Encyclopedia
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
or train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
can play many roles in art, for example:
- As a work of artWork of artA work of art, artwork, art piece, or art object is an aesthetic item or artistic creation.The term "a work of art" can apply to:*an example of fine art, such as a painting or sculpture*a fine work of architecture or landscape design...
in itself in addition to most functional considerations, especially in streamlinedStreamlinerA streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...
steam locomotives and luxury passenger accommodations of the early 20th century, known also as the Machine AgeMachine AgeThe Machine Age is a term associated mostly with the early 20th century, sometimes also including the late 19th century. An approximate dating would be about 1880 to 1945. Considered to be at a peak in the time between the first and second world wars, it forms a late part of the Industrial Age... - As a subject for a novel or film
- As a metaphorMetaphorA metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
in song or poetry, particularly for physical powerPower (physics)In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit...
or directed movement (physical, romantic or other), as in "Fisherman's BluesFisherman's BluesFisherman's Blues is the 1988 album by The Waterboys. The album marked a change in the sound of The Waterboys', abandoning their earlier grandiose rock sound for a mixture of traditional Scottish music, country music and rock and roll. Critics were divided on its release with some disappointed at...
":
- ..."I wish I was the brakeman
- on a hurtling, fevered train
- crashing headlong into the heartland
- like a cannon in the rain'...
In 1978, the Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
held the exhibition
Art exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
"Les Temps des Gares" with the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, the National Railway Museum
National Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001...
in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, and the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
.
In 2008, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
's Walker Art Gallery
Walker Art Gallery
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England, outside of London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group, and is promoted as "the National Gallery of the North" because it is not a local or regional gallery but is part...
held an exhibition entitled: "Art in the Age of Steam."
- As the main subject of a painting, sculpture, or photograph
Trains in specific artworks
- "The Railway Station," by William Powell FrithWilliam Powell FrithWilliam Powell Frith , was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1852...
, 1862 - "The Travelling Companions", by Augustus EggAugustus EggAugustus Leopold Egg 2 May 1816 in London, England – 26 March 1863) was a Victorian artist best known for his modern triptych Past and Present , which depicts the breakup of a middle-class Victorian family.-Biography:...
, 1862 - "The Railway", by Edouard ManetÉdouard ManetÉdouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
, 1872 - "Le PontPontPont is the name or part of the name of several places. It also means 'period' and 'exactly' in Hungarian .-France:Pont is the name or part of the name of several communes of France:...
de l'Europe", by Gustave CaillebotteGustave CaillebotteGustave Caillebotte was a French painter, member and patron of the group of artists known as Impressionists, though he painted in a much more realistic manner than many other artists in the group...
, 1880 - "The Lineman", by L A Ring, 1884
- "The Anxious Journey", by Giorgio de ChiricoGiorgio de ChiricoGiorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
, 1913 - "Railroad SunsetSunsetSunset or sundown is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon in the west as a result of Earth's rotation.The time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment the trailing edge of the Sun's disk disappears below the horizon in the west...
", by Edward HopperEdward HopperEdward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
, 1929 - http://graffiti-art-on-trains.blogspot.com/Graffiti Art On Trains
Artists specialising in trains
In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
the Guild of Railway Artists
Guild of Railway Artists
The Guild of Railway Artists is a British-based art guild whose members are painters of railway subjects.Membership can be applied for by submitting examples of one's work. "Friends" of the Guild are supporters of the guild who are not necessarily accomplished railway artists themselves...
is a group of painters of railway subjects.
See also
- Bridges in artBridges in artthumb|right|250px|The [[Brooklyn Bridge]] in this waterfront scene adds depth through both perspective and atmospherics and its diagonal visual mass is compositionally balanced by the dock and buildingA bridge can play many roles in art, for example...