“…Hundreds gathered for trip in white dresses carrying cloth bags, pails, candles—going to inaccessible & most venerable religious festival of Tres Reyes…Train started 7 A.M. with a hundred in a box car, people hanging on steps of platform even—engine went off tracks like some great sad silent dead horse of iron at noon, usual occurrence.” (See Journals Early ‘Fifties Early ‘Sixties , N.Y., Grove, 1977, 1992, P.37.) Narrow-gauge railroad, Merida to Valladolid, Quintana Roo, Mexico, January 1954.

1954, printed later

Allen Ginsberg

Associated Names
Allen Ginsberg

Artist, American, 1926 - 1997

This is a photograph of a train with passengers hanging out of windows and standing on top. The image captures a bustling scene with a train and open countryside. Some passengers are standing on the roof and others are hanging out of the windows and climbing on the sides of train cars. The train is stopped on tracks bordered by grass and trees, and the sky is scattered with fluffy clouds. In the foreground, a few individuals with hats are partially captured in the frame. The photograph conveys a sense of movement and travel, with elements of human interaction and rural landscapes.
This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Gary Davis

  • Dimensions

    image: 27.9 × 42.4 cm (11 × 16 11/16 in.)
    sheet: 40.5 × 50.3 cm (15 15/16 × 19 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2012.118.80

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Allen Ginsberg Estate; Gary and Ellen Davis, Greenwich, CT; gift to NGA, 2012.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

signed by artist, across bottom in black ink: “…Hundreds gathered for trip in white dresses carrying cloth bags, pails, candles—going to inaccessible & most / venerable religious festival of Tres Reyes…Train started 7 A.M. with a hundred in a box car, people hanging on / steps of platform even—engine went off tracks like some great sad silent dead horse of iron at noon, usual occ- / urrence.” (See Journals Early ‘Fifties Early ‘Sixties [underlined], N.Y., Grove, 1977, 1992, P.37.) Narrow-gauge railroad, Merida to Valladolid, Quintana Roo, Mexico, January 1954. Allen Ginsberg; on verso, by unknown hand, lower right in graphite: V2 / JAN.1953 / 27/364 / Mexico; bottom center: GD-AG-100; bottom right: GDC-861

You may be interested in

Loading Results