I turned the corner into one of the American art galleries at the IMA,
and caught sight of the profile of a big domed building that looked familiar to me.
I checked the identification label on the wall, and found the huge
oil painting,Washington Street, Indianapolis at Dusk, was, indeed
a scene showing the State House, on the north side of Washington Street,
surrounded by the hubbub of her citizens, perhaps on their way home from work.
The painting was done by German artist, Theodor Groll,
when he came to judge German paintings at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
He stayed in Indianapolis, visiting relatives, during the period when
this painting was done, from 1892-1895.
The one thing I can tell about the differences between life
in 1893 Indy and today, is that public transportation
was much better then.
2 comments:
… and so nice to see gents wearing hats rather than - ugh - baseball caps.
Great painting, Speedway. I love that period of transition between the Old West and the twentieth century. America seemed so romantic and full of hope.
Hey ho.
I was hoping to see a Speedway photo of the same corner today, ah well.
Indianapolis was just bursting with German immigrants back then, so Mr. Groll undoubtedly had a lot of folks to visit and speak in his native language with. When WWI came around they all had to forget about being German and become red-blooded Americans real fast.
Post a Comment