Ralston Crawford, Steel Foundry, Coatesville, Pa, 1936-37
Describe a place.
Ralston Crawford's paintings of the 1930s and 1940s depict the starkness and function of American industry in simplified shapes on smooth, untextured canvases. His work of this period captured America's enduring faith in technology and progress. The buildings, pylons, and fences in Steel Foundry, Coatesville, Pa are depicted in sharp-edged, flat shapes with no visible brushstrokes.
Crawford wrote: "My pictures mean exactly what they say, and what they say is said in colors and shapes." ^1^ Ask your students to think about that quote. What do the colors and shapes tell you about this place? How would you describe it? What type of building do you think this might be? What do you think goes on inside it? Why?
Ralston Crawford, Steel Foundry, Coatesville, Pa., 1936–37. Oil on canvas, 32 × 40 in. (81.3 × 101.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 37.10