American Express Train
Suggestions: Many are the same categories as with the other Currier & Ives in this unit.
a. The time period - Now that we have seen all three paintings and we have seen that all three were painted about the same time, what can we say about this time period? Was it exciting in any way? How? Was this time it very different from having only horses and walking and row boats for means of transportation? In what ways? (See the steam boat in the background?)
b. People’s feelings - How do you imagine the people felt about trains? Why? How do you think the artist felt about trains? What is the evidence in the painting of this?
c. Color - What 
part of the train is most colorful? Why? How does the artist use color to keep the train the most important thing in the painting? (dull toward the back vs. bright for the foreground)
d. Composition - How has the artist composed the painting so that our eyes stay on the picture? Mostly on the train? (Note the curves and sideways triangle formed by the train, train tracks, and the smoke. To block the eyes from traveling off the picture and out of the frame, the golden tree looms up to the pretty sky and leans to the right, pointing to the train.)
e. Cost - What costs are involved in making, running, maintaining this train? (Don’t forget the making of and maintaining of the tracks) What did this “cost” in labor, which means people? Who built those tracks? (I know I am dating my fifty year old self here but if you’ve seen some of the old Kung Fu shows, you’ve seen an indication of the many Chinese people who were used to build the train tracks.)
f. Environment - Any costs to the environment? What were they? Did the people know then about pollution the way we do now? Why or Why not?
g. Benefits - Did the people benefit in any way from this knew form of transportation? How? When might speed be important? If I had to get some medicine across land as quickly as possible what form of transportation would I want to use? Has anyone heard of the pony express? Business benefits - Is anyone making money here? Who is? Who isn’t?
h. Safety - Which form of transportation that we saw today was the safest? Why? Each of them could have accidents. How might speed make a difference in the results? (The scientifically interested could estimate the speed of each and then calculate the speed of impact depending on whether the moving object hit another moving object or a stationary one. I think that with two moving objects the speeds are multiplied by each other.) How about safety from other people? Were the trains or steamboats ever held up by robbers? Why? (This goes back to the entertainment factor. These people had money with them for vacationing, eating and such forms of entertainment as gambling and game playing.)
i. Exploration - Did exploration benefit in any way? Could ordinary people and whole families become explorers any easier now with this new means of transportation? Could new territories be moved into? What was the cost of this exploration? Who paid a price? Was anyone a loser? Did the Native Americans willingly give their lands to the people on trains? What did the Native Americans call the train?
j. Choices: Which painting did they like best and why?
- Which form of transportation did they like best and why?
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