Switching Cars

Inscriptions

Signed, in watercolor, bottom right: Paul Sample. VERSO- Inscribed, in graphite, center: "switching cars" - Paul Sample.

Label

Former Dartmouth artist-in-residence Paul Sample melds the manmade with landscape in this watercolor as the buildings and train cars blend into the snowy New England winter. In the foreground, three workers surround the large black engine, their presence indicative of the working-class labor necessary to support freight rail. The absence of passengers demonstrates the use of rail networks for the transport of goods as well as people. Here, Sample invites us to consider industrial rail logistics and infrastructure, the communities they serve, and the impact they have on the landscape around them.

From the 2026 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 132, Class, Community, and Commute: Representations of Private and Public Travel in the Late 19th and 20th Centuries, curated by Javier I. Baluyut ‘26, Mellon Intern

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 132, Class, Community, and Commute: Representations of Private and Public Travel in the Late 19th and 20th Centuries, Javier I. Baluyut ‘26, Mellon Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 5 - October 25, 2026.

Paul Sample: Painter of the American Scene, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 4-August 28, 1988.

Publication History

Robert L. McGrath and Paula F. Glick, Paul Sample: Painter of the American Scene, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1988, no. 63.

Vermont Railroad Museum, "Glory Days of the Railroad Festival", Saturday September 9, 2000, 12 x 18 color posters, ads in The Valley News, The Country Chronicle and The Bennington Banner.

Barbara J. MacAdam, Marks of Distinction, Two Hundred Years of American Drawings and Watercolors from the Hood Museum of Art, Manchester, Vermont: Hudson Hills Press, 2005, ill. p. 244.

Provenance

The artist; given to Dartmouth College Library; transferred to present collection, 1983

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Subjects