Collection of the University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA. Gift of The Gimbel Brothers, Inc.
1959.GIMBEL.27
Loading Platform
October 1 1947 (Date published)
1946 – 1947 (Date created)
1946 – 1947 (Date created)
Ink wash, Gouache
Painting
Paintings
21.25 in W
x
26.75 in H
(Frame)
11.75 in W x 16.75 in H (Image)
11.75 in W x 16.75 in H (Image)
American
Miner filling gondola with coal from loading platform, which was at end of shaker shute with narrow tunnel receding into background.
"Loading Platform" from Fletcher Matin's series for the Gimbel Pennsylvania Art Collection shoes the next coal mining process after the one depicted in his "Miner at Coal Face": a miner fills a car with coal from the loading platform. The cars, which were drawn by mule or sometimes pushed by the miners, transported the coal to the surface. The loading platform was a temporary storage area for the hand-broken coal receieved from the shute. Martin's composition emphasizes the diagonals of the car track and the wooden tunnel supports. As in "Miner at Coal Face", Martin highlights the cap lamp illumination with white gouache. He uses as the basis of his design the sharp, cubic facets of the coal; his miners seem to be a part of the coal as they mine. Martin's work has been described as portraying the "emotional fabric of the American way of life." Among his works are also mural paintings in courthouses and post offices, pen and ink drawings for LIFE magazine, and paintings documenting health conditions in Alaska.
From an exhibition label by Amy Tait.
"A miner is filling a gondola with coal from a loading platform. The car is drawn along a narrow gauge track by means of a mule to the mine shaft for conveyance to the surface. Sometimes the cars are pushed by the workers. Loading platforms are at one end of the shaker shutes, and store the mined coal temporarily where gondolas can pick it up in a main artery tunnel." (D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948)
From an exhibition label by Amy Tait.
"A miner is filling a gondola with coal from a loading platform. The car is drawn along a narrow gauge track by means of a mule to the mine shaft for conveyance to the surface. Sometimes the cars are pushed by the workers. Loading platforms are at one end of the shaker shutes, and store the mined coal temporarily where gondolas can pick it up in a main artery tunnel." (D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948)
In Collection
ca. 1959, University Art Gallery Gift of Mr. Steve Osterweis, President of Gimbel Brothers, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.
ca. 1946-1959, Gimbel Brothers, Inc.
ca. 1946-1959, Gimbel Brothers, Inc.
Catalog of October 1, 1947 (first publication of the paintings)
D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948
R. Gigler, "Pittsburgh's Man of Steel", Pittsburgh Press Roto, August 12, 1979.
O. Francis, "The Saga of Joe Magarac Steelman", Scribner's Magazine, nov. 1931.
Roy Kahn, "Real Pittsburgh: Just an Average Joe", Pittsburgh Magazine, nov. 1985, 17-18.
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Feb. 25, 1948
John Oliver La Gorce, "Artists Look At Pennsylvania", National Geographic Magazine
Catalogue from March 1959 when the collection was presented at the new University Student Union at Pitt (formerly Schenley Hotel).
D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948
R. Gigler, "Pittsburgh's Man of Steel", Pittsburgh Press Roto, August 12, 1979.
O. Francis, "The Saga of Joe Magarac Steelman", Scribner's Magazine, nov. 1931.
Roy Kahn, "Real Pittsburgh: Just an Average Joe", Pittsburgh Magazine, nov. 1985, 17-18.
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Feb. 25, 1948
John Oliver La Gorce, "Artists Look At Pennsylvania", National Geographic Magazine
Catalogue from March 1959 when the collection was presented at the new University Student Union at Pitt (formerly Schenley Hotel).
Please note that cataloging is ongoing and that some information may not be complete.
Corporate commissions
Western Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Industry
Social
Western Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Industry
Social