Penn Station at War Time

Joseph Delaney, Penn Station at War Time, 1943, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Joseph Delaney, 1970.176
Copied Joseph Delaney, Penn Station at War Time, 1943, oil on canvas, 34 x 48 1⁄8 in. (86.4 x 122.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Joseph Delaney, 1970.176

Artwork Details

Title
Penn Station at War Time
Artist
Date
1943
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
34 x 48 1⁄8 in. (86.4 x 122.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Joseph Delaney
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure group
  • Cityscape — New York — New York
  • Travel
  • History — United States — World War II
  • Object — other — flag
  • Architecture Interior — civic — railroad station
  • Architecture Interior — civic — Pennsylvania Station
Object Number
1970.176
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1970.176

Artwork Description

For almost sixty years Delaney painted life in New York City with the discriminating eye of a caricaturist: “The real community is out there in the street where everyone is equal.” Penn Station at War Time is an amusing image of travelers struggling to make their way through a dense mass of people as they rush to catch their trains. Only a few stand out in the tangle of torsos and limbs. Despite its apparent spontaneity, Penn Station at War Time is a sophisticated painting. Delaney bisected the canvas horizontally to contrast the volumetric expanse of the architecture with the linear energy of the crowd below.


African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012