Dynamic Velocity of Interborough Rapid Transit Power Station

Gallery 201, American Art, second floor

Main Building

Dynamic Velocity of Interborough Rapid Transit Power Station

c. 1915

Frances Simpson Stevens (American, 1894–1976)

This work has the distinction of being the only known painting still in existence by the American artist Frances Simpson Stevens. In 1913 Stevens met several Italian Futurist artists and writers during a two-year stay in Florence that determined her artistic path. She quickly adopted the Futurist visual vocabulary, which extolled modern technology through fragmented forms and dynamic movement. This painting, which depicts the grinding turbines of a subway power station, was made upon her return to the United States and reveals her continued infatuation with modern machinery, which she shared with many of her colleagues in the New York Dada group.

Gallery 201, American Art, second floor

Object Details

Title:

Dynamic Velocity of Interborough Rapid Transit Power Station

Date:

c. 1915

Artist:

Frances Simpson Stevens (American, 1894–1976)

Medium:

Oil and charcoal on canvas

Dimensions:

48 3/8 × 35 7/8 inches (122.9 × 91.1 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950

Accession Number:

1950-134-520

Geography:

Made in New York, New York, United States, North and Central America

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Gallery 201, American Art, second floor

Main Building

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