Railroad Work

Maker Henry Sugimoto (American, 1900 - 1990)

Date1970

Mediumoil, canvas

DimensionsL: 64 in, W: 51.5 in

ClassificationsFine Arts

Credit LineGift of Madeleine Sugimoto and Naomi Tagawa, Japanese American National Museum

Object number92.97.109

DescriptionStretched 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.