In the Traces: Railroad Paintings of Ted Rose (Railroads Past and Present)

In the TracesRailroad Paintings of Ted RoseIntroduction by Thomas H.Garver Railroad paintings by a major Americanwatercolorist. In the Traces presents 60 paintings by Ted Rose, with commentary by the artist. The works are an eloquent and absorbing view ofindustrial America, especially of railroads as an integral part of the man-madelandscape. Here is the rich narrative of a journey of discoverythat began 50 years ago when Rose confronted changes everywhere during the timerailroads and the country were in transition. His paintings are a record of hiscontinuing fascination with railroad places, a visual anthology of past and present.These masterful watercolors well describe the atmosphere and life along the tracksduring the last half of the 20th century. Rose finds beauty in thecommonplace -- the common places of our experience and in the back alleys of areality we thought we knew so well. These expressive works are visual documents, informed by the rhythmic idiom of blues music and the poignant song of railroadoperations in winter bleakness, blazing sun, or darkest night. The artist's empathywith his subjects, human and mechanical, is given through a brilliantly controlledtechnique which Rose deftly adjusts to match the nature of a scene, from the softlight of dawn on the prairie to the harsh glare of headlights and signal lights atmidnight. Although his works evoke the look of earlier American realist paintings, Rose's knowledge of subject matter and his often unorthodox use of the watercolormedium support his narrative purposes without reference to otherartists. Ted Rose, a signature member of the American WatercolorSociety and the National Watercolor Society, lives and works in Santa Fe, NewMexico. His paintings have received consistent recognition in juried andinvitational exhibitions, and appear often in books, magazines, and exhibitioncatalogues. Recently Rose was honored when the U.S. Postal Service commissioned himto create five watercolors of streamlined American passenger locomotives. The imageswere subsequently issued as postage stamps. Thomas H. Garver, aformer curator and director of several art museums, is author of more than 40exhibition catalogues.