About the Object
In this page of studies, Crawford explored ways of depicting nacelles, the streamlined housings that are separate from the fuselage on airplanes. The sheer number of images related to nacelles, suggests that Crawford—technically on a lighting assignment for Burton Tremaine—found something about them particularly fascinating.
Additional Information
In December 1944, Crawford received a commission from Burton Tremaine, president and chairman of the Miller Lighting Company, to commemorate the installation of nine miles of continuous fluorescent lighting in the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Plant in Buffalo, New York. Crawford was given special permission to photograph inside the plant, taking a least a dozen pictures and creating dozens of drawings, resulting in at least 11 related paintings, including Nacelles Under Construction, 1946, in the Mead Art Museum.
The Artist;
By descent to the Artist’s son, John C. Crawford, Brooklyn, NY;
Chadds Ford, PA. Brandywine River Museum of Art. Ralston Crawford: Air + Space + War (June 19-September 1, 2021); Dayton, OH. Dayton Art Institute (October 30, 2021-January 23, 2022), ill. p. 147.