Title:
Railroad Work
Creator/Contributor:
Sugimoto, Henry
Date:
ca. 1970
Identifier:
92.97.109
Format:
painting
oil on canvas
New York, N.Y.
Inscription:
Signed in medium, bottom left corner: H. Sugimoto. Written on back: Japanese Immigration in America Series-- / "Railroad
Work"
Description:
Stretched and framed. Group of men laying railroad tracks. Train tracks run from lower left to midground right. At lower left,
a man in blue overalls stands on the ballast with a pick resting against his stomach as he pauses in his work to drink from
a grey container he lifts over his head. Across from him, in the foreground center with his back to the viewer, a man in blue
overalls raises a hammer to strike a spike. Four men lay crossties under rail at upper part of tracks on ballast. Three of
the four men wear blue overalls, the fourth wears jeans and a brown shirt. A bearded Caucasian man, visible from the shoulders
up, faces the viewer in a white shirt and hat smoking a pipe in the lower right corner. Crossties lie stacked in midground
left next to a man cooking over a fire. He is dressed in jeans, tan shirt, white apron and headband. There are two barrels
next to the campfire, one covered by a board with seven blue cups atop. Three trees and two white tents stand behind him.
A short distance to the right stands a sign, Goshen Junction. In the background, a broad expanse of open land where cattle
graze is broken by a cluster of houses and trees on the right; a windmill; and a train leaving the town going west. A cluster
of trees stands in front of a blue mountain range in the distance.
Historical Note:
Goshen is a small town in California, located several miles from Hanford.
Subject:
Railroads
Railroad tracks
Railroad construction workers
Railroad ties
Trains
Windmills