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Home > Art > Aircraft Plant

Aircraft Plant

Ink drawing of a jagged aircraft parts in a factory.
Artist

Ralston Crawford

Date

1940s

Medium

Pen and ink on paper

Object Type

Work on Paper

Dimensions

H- 9 x W- 13 3/8 in. (23 x 34 cm)

Artist's Country of Birth

Canada

Collecting Area

American Modernism

Credit Line

The Vilcek Foundation

Accession Number

VF2015.01.02

Copyright

© Estate of Ralston Crawford/VAGA, New York

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Ink drawing of a jagged aircraft parts in a factory.

About the Object

In this drawing of plane parts in a factory, we can make out the shape of a plane tail and a grid that recalls a window or the girders of a ceiling. These orderly forms that suggest construction are surrounded by jagged-edged forms that call to mind the destruction wrought by these planes.

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 at least a dozen pictures and creating dozens of drawings. He painted at least 11 related paintings.

The Artist;
Estate of the Artist;
By descent to the Artist’s son, Neelon Crawford, Wyoming;
[Menconi & Schoelkopf, New York, NY];

Laramie, WY.  University of Wyoming Art Museum. Ralston Crawford: The Artist’s Eye, August 23-December 20, 2014, p. 181, ill. p. 40.

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