Train art exhibit set to pull into Kansas City

[Click on the image to see more artworks in the exhibit]

Wake up, trainspotters, and cast your eyes toward Kansas City.

That’s where the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in September will open a show called “Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America and the Railway, 1830-1960.”

The exhibit, which includes more than 100 paintings and photographs, is currently on display in Liverpool, England, through August. The show opens in Kansas City on Sept. 13, 2008, and continues through Jan. 18.

Painters include Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Thomas Hart Benton and Edward Hopper. Among the photographers: Alfred Stieglitz, Charles Sheeler and André Kertész.

To see it in person, board an Amtrak Southwest Chief train at Union Station in Los Angeles, pony up $269 per adult, hang on for about 35 hours, then step off in Missouri.

Or take the easy way out and buy the very handsome catalog titled “The Railway: Art in the Age of Steam” published by Yale University Press — officially $65, but recently offered on Amazon for about $40.

Whether you check out the show itself or just the catalog, you will be reminded of at least two things: First, a lot of great paintings and photographs have trains in them. (And often tunnels. What do you suppose that’s about?)

Second, the average train station is 867 times more fun to look at than the average airport.

– Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Images: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art]

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 2:00 pm by Christopher Reynolds and is filed under Arts & Culture, Book Reviews, Family & Kids, Midwestern States, News, Tips & Advice, Rail Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.