Americans 8/Congressional 12--En route from New York to Washington, Club Car

December 1954 or January 1955

Robert Frank

Artist, American, born Switzerland, 1924 - 2019

This photographic contact sheet has seven rows, each with five black and white images except for the second row down, which only shows four. The photographs were all taken on train cars. Most of the people are pale-skinned men wearing suits, but there are a few women wearing dresses and hats. They all sit in swiveling chairs or in the dining car. One uniformed conductor is light-skinned, and servers in the dining care are dark-skinned men wearing white uniforms. Eight of the shots have red check marks crossed out to make Xes, and some also have blue Xes. The marked pictures show a view of a bald man seen between the backs and shoulders of two hunched men; two men with receding hairlines sitting in chairs swiveled toward each other near the dark, mirror-like windows; a view down a counter in the dining car; a dark-skinned man wearing a white coat, conductor’s hat, and perhaps sunglasses, sitting alone; a close up of a newspaper and briefcase pinned between a swiveling chair and the side of the train car; a view of knees and legs, some crossed, along a row of seating; a man looking at us as others sitting in his row look down a papers; and the conductor and a passenger wearing a trench coat, both smoking pipes. One frame, another view of the bald man between the other two men’s shoulders, is marked in red and blue, and also outlined in a red box.

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Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist, New York; gift to NGA, 1994.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

center verso in red pencil: C12

Wikidata ID

Q64165462


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