The Wreckage of the Train

The Wreckage of the Train

2006
Artist
Cui Guotai, Chinese, April 8, 1964-
Born: Shenyang, China
Work Locations: Beijing, China
Country
China
Object
painting
Medium
Acrylic paint on canvas
Accession Number
2015.611
Credit Line
Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum
Cui Guotai (Chinese). The Wreckage of the Train. 2006. Acrylic paint on canvas. Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum. 2015.611.
Dimensions
height: 70 7/8 in, 180.0225 cm; width: 70 7/8 in, 180.0225 cm; frame height: 72 3/4 in, 184.7850 cm; frame width: 72 3/4 in, 184.7850 cm; frame depth: 2 3/4 in, 6.9850 cm
Department
Modern and Contemporary Art
Collection
Modern and Contemporary Art

With an air of desolation and neglect, “The Wreckage of the Train” is thematically based on the evolution of industrial China, depicting the Wreckage of the past in the present. In this expressionist style painting, the wheels of a train emerge through the use of murky blacks, blues, and whites, reminiscent of newspaper veneer. The assumption can be made that the train has flipped, as the wheels appear detached from any tracks and are reaching towards the top of the work. The wreckage of pipes and machinery that surrounds the wheels supports the depiction of destruction. 
(Robert C. Morgan, “Evidence of a Lost Era”)

Born in 1964 in Liaozhong Province, China, Cui graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from Shenyang Normal University and a graduate degree from Northeast Normal University. In 2000, he enrolled as a PhD student in the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. 

Known Provenance
Purchased from Alexander Ochs Galleries by Vicki and Kent Logan, 2007; gifted to Denver Art Museum 2015
Exhibition History
  • "Half-Life of a Dream: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection"— San Francisco Museum of Modern Art [07/10/2008 - 10/05/2008]

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