(Cleveland, Ohio, 1898 - 1952, Willoughby, Ohio)
1945
Oil on fiberboard
24 x 40 in. (61.0 x 101.6 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Purchased, by exchange, with funds from Mrs. Allan Johnson, Sr. and Mr. Ralph Cortell
2005.2
The crusty mounds of snow and eerie, greenish light in this painting of a man standing on a train platform enhance the image’s feeling of desolation and loneliness. The work is based on pencil sketches Gaertner made as he rode the train between Cleveland and New York in order to deliver paintings to art dealers. This work won first place in the 1945 Cleveland May Show and was subsequently exhibited in St. Louis and Chicago.