Hey everyone! In today’s post I’m going to analyze a painting I saw the other day at Ackland Art Museum, the art museum on campus here at UNC. The piece is called Slow Down Freight Train, and was painted by Rose Piper in 1946. In Slow Down Freight Train, Piper is able to manifest the struggles African-Americans felt during the early and middle 20th century by creating a feeling of sorrow through her use of neutral colors and abstract figures.
The painting is oil on canvas and is about three feet by two feet in size. Overall the scene depicted in Slow Down Freight Train is rather simple and includes few points of interest other than the African-American man taking up mostly the left side of a train car. He was clearly painted to appear abstract rather than realistic. He is sitting or crouching faced toward the viewer but his elongated neck is turned away. His face appears to be looking outside toward rolling green fields. His skin is a brownish-green and his hair black. The man is wearing a red shirt and black pants, and his left arm is holding onto some sort of tall object in front of him that hides the right side of his body. The face of the man seems mostly empty, but it could be because of the angle his head is at.
The man is in a train car with what appears to be light-colored wooden floors with boards that run vertically. On the right there’s an opening in the car, and rolling green hills and power lines can be seen. The back wall behind the man is black on either side, but in the middle there are six horizontal sections that from the top to bottom fade from a dull yellow to a dark, ugly brown. This is an interesting addition to the painting and seems a bit random and out-of-place.
The balance in Slow Down Freight Train is interesting. The man is close to the front of the scene on the left, and it looks almost two-dimensional. However, there is a more spatial and three-dimensional aspect on the right side, with the hills and power lines being the most apparent. Piper probably did this to make the struggling man the focal point of the painting.
Piper makes great use of abstract shapes and lines in Slow Down Freight Train. I feel like cubism could have inspired Piper to some extent as these elements dominate the image; she really has her own very unique style. Almost all lines seem to flow, especially the ones that make up the man. They are the only curved lines in the entire painting. These seem to represent quietness or sadness, whereas the rigid lines and hard angles of the room surrounding the man represent some type of stress or anger. This could be described as a very geometric painting, as all lines make shapes that represent shapes. What I really like about this painting is that it is abstract, but only to a degree where it is easy to see what is occurring. Some works are so abstract it can be hard for a viewer to detect what the painting depicts.
Another major element that really sets the tone in this piece is the choice of colors Piper chose to use. With the exception of the man’s shirt, all colors used are dull, neutral hues that express a sort of sadness or longing feeling. Green seems to represent growth, health, and rebirth, but because it is dulled down it seems to mean the death and despair. I described earlier how there was a section of yellow that faded downward into an ugly brown; to me this is a representation of how the man’s happiness and joy has diminished. All these colors surround the faceless man in his bright red shirt. The shirt contrasts with the dark background and his black leg contrasts with the beige floor, making him stand out from the rest of the painting. I think the red in his shirt shows an inner-anger or frustration the man has, or perhaps even love and longing for his family, as he is on the train alone. Maybe both!
It isn’t hard for the viewer to recognize that Piper created this work for a reason. Before knowing any background information one can see that it displays helplessness or sorrow. I personally like the painting; it is simple yet clearly has a deeper meaning to it. There is also an element of mysteriousness to it; it causes me to think when I see it. However, there are a few components of the piece I don’t understand or that seem random. The fading yellow rectangles is one of them; it just doesn’t please my eye and seems out of place. It could be a representation of an idea or emotion, or just simply put there because Piper didn’t know what to do with the extra space.
Overall I think that this painting is a representation of how African-Americans were treated in the early and middle 20th century. They were given very few rights in comparison to whites at the time. The man’s red shirt and the rigid lines of the inside of the car convey a strong sense of frustration and angst, while the softer, curvy lines of his body and the neutral colors of the room express sorrow or tenderness. I do think there is a more specific meaning to it though; the title seems to encourage that idea. Piper wanting the freight train to slow down could by symbolic of something—perhaps the train is speeding into the future and the man is scared of what is to come for his family or something of the sort. Either way it makes sense in that Piper was an African-American living in the United States at this time. It’s almost like she created this piece as an SOS. The meaning of Slow Down Freight Train is surely rooted in the African American experience.
Art is a very powerful way to convey a message. Piper kept action to a minimum in her work; she was able to express her ideas through mostly just color, shape, and line. Slow Down Freight Train helps us understand how African-Americans felt at this time in history without using a single word. If you’d like to take a look and see what you think about it, look just below this post! And remember all art museums contain cool and interesting pieces, so check out your local museum sometime!
-Jake
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