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Lot Essay
The construction of the 51 mile-long Panama Canal was an awe-inspiring industrial achievement which contributed significantly to the progress of mankind. The United States government agreed to construct the great canal and the ten-year project began in 1903. Alson Clark was in New York in 1913 when he decided to visit Panama to paint the massive construction and record this historical event. He and his wife, Medora, boarded a steam ship and made the journey to Colon where they subsequently continued onto Ancon, on the Pacific side of the canal. Clark had clearance from the commander and chief of the project, Colonel George W. Goethals, to enter all areas of the massive site, which include "refuges, camps, commissaries, construction houses, signal booths, locks and even dredges." (Jean Stern, Alson S. Clark, Los Angeles, p. 25)
Work Trains - Miraflores was painted on the Western side of the Panama Canal where ships are lowered 16 meters to sea level into the Bay of Panama at the canal's Pacific end. The painting gives us a commanding overview of the deep well of the canal, showing tiny figures working near trains which billow steam and smoke, proving the monumental size and effort of this construction. Clark employs a rich palette to create the bright light and uses the diagonal lines of the canal walls, train tracks and landscape to give the work a strong compositional design, which together emphasize the dramatic effect. Clark's Panama paintings are bright, colorful and very positive in feeling, which mirror his attitude toward the canal which was "completely consistent with the prevailing sentiment toward it in the United States, one that generated the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 to celebrate its completion." (William H. Gerdts and Will South, California Impressionism, New York, p. 185)
Work Trains - Miraflores was painted on the Western side of the Panama Canal where ships are lowered 16 meters to sea level into the Bay of Panama at the canal's Pacific end. The painting gives us a commanding overview of the deep well of the canal, showing tiny figures working near trains which billow steam and smoke, proving the monumental size and effort of this construction. Clark employs a rich palette to create the bright light and uses the diagonal lines of the canal walls, train tracks and landscape to give the work a strong compositional design, which together emphasize the dramatic effect. Clark's Panama paintings are bright, colorful and very positive in feeling, which mirror his attitude toward the canal which was "completely consistent with the prevailing sentiment toward it in the United States, one that generated the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 to celebrate its completion." (William H. Gerdts and Will South, California Impressionism, New York, p. 185)