Object Details
- Artist
- Hugo Robus, born Cleveland, OH 1885-died New York City 1964
- Luce Center Label
- Hugo Robus created Train in Motion toward the end of his painting career, shortly before he devoted all of his time to sculpture. He was fascinated by the futurist painters, who emphasized the speed and power of modern machinery, but claimed not to be “initiated into their plane of intelligence” when he tried to understand the movement’s principles (Tarbell, Hugo Robus, 1885-1964, 1980). The repeated shapes and blurred colors in this painting express a sense of movement, as if we are watching the landscape sweep past the window of a speeding train. The bright colors and fragmented shapes appear like a kaleidoscope, suggesting that this image is just one of an infinite number of possibilities.
- Luce Object Quote
- “I [am] interested not in what the eye records but in what our sensitivities feel.” Robus, “Sculptor as Self Critic,” reprinted in Tarbell, Hugo Robus, 1885-1964, 1980
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Robus, Jr.
- ca. 1920
- Object number
- 1978.153.2
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on canvas mounted on fiberglass
- Dimensions
- 26 1/4 x 32 1/8 in. (66.8 x 81.5 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor, 33B
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Abstract
- Travel\land\train
- Record ID
- saam_1978.153.2
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7f8613957-4226-45c5-8fad-f81998426ca0
