T. Lux Feininger

The "Robert Fulton" I

Die "Robert Fulton" I

Repro: Negative, art-archives.net

1940, July, in New York
Negative, film: 45 x 70 mm
Prints known:
1. The Maritime Museum at Battleship Cove, Fall River, MA, Inv. Nr. BCMM 127, gelatin silver print, 202 x 254 mm
TLF: "I saw, walking on the banks of the East River that summer [during the New York World Fair, 1939], an inspiring spectacle: The white and beautiful sidewheeler “Robert Fulton” with three tall smokestacks abreast, billowing under smoke into the amber sunset light... It started me off to paint “steamers” instead of “sailing ships”; a nothing, a trifle to the bystander but of the utmost importance to me. ... I “learned steamers” the way I had learned, when just twelve years old, sailing ships... It is this sort of experience that makes me say that “I don’t choose my subjects but they choose me”. ... But when “they” leave you – as they do – it is irremedial." [205]
Themes: Ships-Steamer, NYC-River