The first form of car insurance, covering accidents with horses, was issued in February 1898. In this cityscape, it appears that the hapless driver would have needed car insurance as well as a comprehensive policy against personal loss and calamity.
Accident in Progress
The first form of car insurance, covering accidents with horses, was issued in February 1898. In this cityscape, it appears that the hapless driver would have needed car insurance as well as a comprehensive policy against personal loss and calamity.
The artist Howard Taft Lorenz began his career as an actor and appeared in numerous stage productions. After receiving a large inheritance and squandering it, he became a hobo.
Years on the street took a toll on Lorenz. As a result of a violent street fight, he lost his hearing, and he also suffered a humiliating permanent hair loss after using a cheap patent dandruff remover.
Although Lorenz had no previous artistic training, in 1935 he became employed by the Works Progress Administration in New York. Years of rebelliousness and wild hallucinations inspired paintings such as Automobile Accident, whose distorted human figures, strange perspective, and satiric wit are hallmarks of Lorenz's style.
Source: National Museum of American Art (CD-ROM) (New York and Washington D.C.: MacMillan Digital in cooperation with the National Museum of American Art, 1996).
Pictured: Howard Taft Lorenz, 1906–56, Automobile Accident, about 1936, oil, 24 1/4 x 30 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from Museum of Modern Art.