Travelling Carnival, Santa Fe

Media - 1972.149 - SAAM-1972.149_1 - 4317
Copied John Sloan, Travelling Carnival, Santa Fe, 1924, oil on canvas, 30 1⁄8 x 36 1⁄8 in. (76.5 x 91.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Cyrus McCormick, 1972.149

Artwork Details

Title
Travelling Carnival, Santa Fe
Artist
Date
1924
Location
Dimensions
30 1⁄8 x 36 1⁄8 in. (76.5 x 91.6 cm.)
Markings
lower left in oil: John Sloan
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Cyrus McCormick
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Highlights
Keywords
  • Group
  • Figure group
  • Landscape — time — night
  • Recreation — carnival
  • Landscape — New Mexico — Santa Fe
  • Architecture Exterior — commercial — recreation
Object Number
1972.149
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1972.149

Artwork Description

Best known for his sympathetic portrayal of urban life in New York in the early twentieth century, John Sloan began spending four months every summer in Santa Fe, New Mexico, starting in 1919. The southwest offered a fresh landscape and novel experiences that inspired a new body of work. Travelling Carnival, Santa Fe depicts a bustling microcosm not unlike the streets of New York. Instead of ethnic quarters teeming with new immigrants, however, Sloan shows the diverse inhabitants of a southwest gathering for an evening of fun. The carousel whirls with bob-haired flappers aboard while the Ferris wheel's lights glitter in the background above crowds of Native Americans, farmers, and townspeople.