Art Institute of Chicago

Train Station

Walter Ellison · 1935

Analyst brief

What the record supports

Walter Ellison's "Train Station," created in 1935, is an oil on cardboard painting measuring 20 × 36 cm (8 × 14 in.). Classified as a painting within the Arts of the Americas department, it reflects United States culture. No information on the specific subject matter or stylistic details is provided in the catalogue data.

The artwork was acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1990, having been sold by Galerie Americana, Chicago, after previously being owned by Irwin Weinberg. Its acquisition was supported by the Charles M. Kurtz Charitable Trust and Barbara Neff Smith and Solomon Byron Smith Purchase funds, alongside prior gifts from Florence Jane Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison, and the estate of Celia Schmidt.

"Train Station" has been included in multiple exhibitions, beginning with the Chicago No–Jury Society of Artists, Inc., Twelfth Annual Exhibition in 1936, where it was titled "R. R. Station, Macon, Ga." It has been featured in several exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Terra Museum of American Art. The piece is also cited in various literature, including exhibition catalogues and scholarly publications from 1990 to 2017.

Generated from the catalogue fields shown on this page. Nartmad does not assert attributions, valuations or prices that no cited source supports.

Provenance

Ownership history

Irwin Weinberg. Sold by Galerie Americana, Chicago, to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1990.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

Chicago, 1418 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago No–Jury Society of Artists, Inc., Twelfth Annual Exhibition, June 13–27, 1936, cat. 98, as R. R. Station, Macon, Ga.
Art Institute of Chicago, New Acquisitions: Early American Modernist Painting, June 25–Nov. 25, 1990, no cat.
Art Institute of Chicago, Telling Images: Stories in Art, Sept. 1996–June 1999, ill. p. 38.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Collecting: African American Art in the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 15–May 18, 2003, no cat.
Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago Modern, 1893–1945: Pursuit of the New, July 17–Oct. 31, 2004, cat. 30.
Art Institute of Chicago, <a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/1567/they-seek-a-city-chicago-and-the-art-of-migration-1910-1950">They Seek a City: Chicago and the Art of Migration, 1910–1950</a>, Mar. 3–Jun. 2, 2013, cat. 64.

Literature

Published references

Derrick Joshua Beard Fine Arts, Opening Exhibition, November 30–December 2, 1990, fig. 9. [This is an exhibition catalogue, but Train Station was not shown.]
Blair Kamin, "Inviting, by Design: Tigerman Helps Make Art Institute's Children's Exhibition Something to See," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 16, 1997, 4.
Andrea D. Barnwell and Kirsten P. Buick, “A Portfolio of Works by African American Artists Continuing the Dialogue: A Work in Progress,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 24, 2 (1999), 186, 193–94, cat 5, ill.
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago, From World War I to 1955 (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), cat. 103.
Sarah Kelly Oehler, They Seek a City: Chicago and the Art of Migration, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2013), 72, 74–75, cat. 64 (ill.).
Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the Collection, (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2017), 122.

Comparables