Artist: William Hahn Place/date of birth: Ebersbach, Germany 1829 Place/date of death: Dresden, Germany 1887 Title: Sacramento Railroad Station Date of completion: 1874 Materials: Oil on canvas mounted on board Dimensions: 53 3/4 x 87 3/4 inches Signed lower right : Wm. Hahn. Collection: Gift of the M.H. de Young Endowment Fund Accession number: 54936 Introduction The painting captures a moment at the station of the Central Pacific Railroad in Sacramento. With the driving of the Golden Spike in Saint Louis in 1869, Sacramento became the western terminus of the first transcontinental railroad. The artist, William Hahn, has recorded the bustle of activity shortly after the arrival of a train. Several groups of passengers arrive in the foreground: a family being met by a carriage, another group being helped by a pair of porters (their trunk has split open), and a third, forlorn group at bottom front. Discussion This painting shows how the railroad and trans-Pacific immigration transformed Northern California from a frontier area into a rapidly-growing crossroads of world culture. In 1848 gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada foothills and nearby Sacramento became a major city almost overnight. Sacramento was the first station of the California railroad in 1856, the Pony Express in 1860, and the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. This painting presents the convergence of people brought together by the railroad in a developing western town. Looking Closely No one ever looks at a painting in quite the same way as anyone else. Following are what three writers said about one of the scenes in Sacramento Railroad Station when it was exhibited in 1874: A little to the left is seen a ludicrous and not infrequent incident of travel. A frail trunk which only a woman would trust in, rescued by two porters from the baggage smashers, gives away at the bottom, discharging its precious load of feminine finery. One of the two porters, his hands helplessly on his knees looks on with a colic expression of amusement which might imply that he is not quite innocent of the catastrophe. The owner of the trunk and a female friend are viewing the wreck with horror, and wondering what to do. - Daily Evening Post (San Francisco), August 1874 There are several figures in the piece which would do credit to [another artist], an instance of which may be seen in the figures of the two baggage-carriers, who have just given evidence of their peculiar talent by knocking the bottom from a traveling trunk. - Unknown newspaper, 1874 Another remarkable piece of figure painting is shown in the group on the left, where two able-bodied "baggage smashers" have spilled the contents of a large traveling trunk on the street, to the evident disgust of a pair of pretty young ladies, who naturally feel annoyed at the public display of their wardrobe. - San Francisco Bulletin, June 22, 1874 There is great deal of action to attract the viewer's attention in this painting. Some details to notice are: the Casa Svizzeria (the Swiss Inn), the Stanford Saloon (named after Leland Stanford, Chairperson of the Central Pacific Railroad), a Chinese laborer in a straw hat balancing baskets on bamboo poles, a poster advertising rail service to Baltimore and Chicago, an African-American railroad laborer at left, stores selling "Fine Wines" and building supplies "Nails, Tar, Pitch," a boy at left front with a schoolroom slate, a factory issuing smoke like the locomotive, and a railroad technician oiling the main piston of the train. The railroad tracks seem to lead right out into the middle of Main Street. Laws about public safety (including factory safety) were only beginning to be passed during this period. In cities in the western frontier public safety problems were complicated by the fact that railroads often were in place before the cities that grew up around them. Style Although Sacramento Railroad Station is a scene of busy activity, Hahn has controlled the movement by confining the human figures to the bottom of the picture. The strong vertical lines of the flagpole, building elements, and horses' legs anchor the figures in place. Artist Although he was born and died in Germany, Hahn lived in the United States from 1872-1882. He spent part of those years in San Francisco where he was one of the few painters to live here at the time. Links to American History Curriculum
SLIDE 22
SACRAMENTO RAILROAD STATION
Introduction | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Slide List | Museum Visit