Penn Station at War Time

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: Joseph Delaney
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: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Architecture Interior — civic — Pennsylvania Station
Architecture Interior — civic — railroad station
Object — other — flag
History — United States — World War II
Travel
Cityscape — New York — New York
Figure group
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.

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