Customer Reviews

The Railway: Art in the Age of Steam (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art)

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The quality of exhibition catalogs ranges from poor to excellent. In this case, we have a catalog that fulfills all most important requirements.

For one, although some snobs describe it as "pretty pictures', the reproductions are accurate, and their size is good. Especially when it comes to paintings that belong to private collections, the only hope to be reminded of the emotions one felt in the presence of the real painting, is to enjoy a decent reproduction. So I consider it a very important quality for a catalog to present well sized, good quality reproductions of all the works of art being exhibited.

Although this catalog is not a treatise about the subject of the exhibit (and I don't believe it should be), the texts are very accurate, while at the same time they are short and concise. This is what a catalog should provide, as opposed to being the space to host infinite, boring, and cryptic prolusions by some solipsistic scholar.

Last but not least, the structure of the catalog is very good, with the last few pages providing small reproductions of all the artwork organized by author, with short explanation blurbs that perfectly serve their purpose.

Overall, a very good catalog for a fantastic exhibition that brought together, in some cases for the very first time, some of the most wonderful masterpieces ever created.

This is a wonderfully illustrated book that documents the profound transformation an amazing technology (steam locomotion) had on all strata of society. It features masterpieces from 19th and 20th century artists and photographers and is highly readable and informative. It appealed to me as both a railway enthusiast, a reader of American and European history and as someone who enjoys art in it's many genres. I highly recommend this book.