Docent Art: Transportation: Steam Engine Train

American Express Train

1864 Currier & Ives

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?

Transportation- Horses

Docent Art Program Halifax, MA 10-09

A Spill Out on The Snow
Currier and Ives, 1870

Even though this print was produced after the next one of steam boats, I thought we would begin with this painting because horses were around a lot longer and so represent an older form of transportation.
With this unit we can easily develop some lines of discussion that can continue through all the prints. Here are some possibilities:
a.Artistic techniques - I’m referring to the ones already mentioned of color, composition, eye flow. For example:
· Do the colors help our eyes to stay on the painting and within the frame? Are there any colors that are so odd or so bright that we keep looking at that spot and not at the rest of the painting? If our eyes keep looking at the whole painting does that help us to enjoy it?
· Can you describe the eye flow pattern? Where does your eye enter the painting and what path does it flow? What did the artist do to make your eyes do that? Isn’t that amazing?! An artist who lived 137 years ago put lines and colors on paper in such a way that your eyes are controlled. Even if you try not to follow that pattern, your eyes will still go back to it.
b.Transportation — The pros and cons of each can be considered. Examples:
1.Costs - The food and care of the horses. Does it take a lot of people to care for a horse?
2.Environment- Any benefits or costs? The horses give us back the gift of its manure - very useful for the earth.
3.Safety - We see here that even with horses, people had accidents. Is this one as bad as an accident with cars? Why not? What is the difference? (We can always play devil’s advocate.) Isn’t the horse buggy more open and exposed? Isn’t the car enclosed? What about speed?
4.Benefits - We already mentioned manure being good for the earth. Do people benefit from their pets? Don’t the horses provide the companionship of a living creature? Will the horse run out of gas? Is the horse pleasant or even beautiful to look at? Maybe the horse can’t be used in all weathers at all times but this picture proves that it can be used in many different kinds of weather. Can all means of transportation be used in so many ways? How about fun? Are all means of transportation fun? Do these people look like they are having fun? (The story of what is happening is probably the first thing that will be talked about.)
5. People’s feelings – What feelings are expressed in the painting? How can you tell? (Have the children describe the facial expressions that range from amusement to annoyance.)
6.Trivia (but not trivial) — There’s a history and science lesson in the trees. Aren’t they elm trees? They used to line so many New England streets. They have largely disappeared from that plague of Dutch elm disease, though. Another change over time.