Denver South Park and Pacific
1997
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 19 × 23.9 cm (7 1/2 × 9 7/16 in.) mount: 40.5 × 50.9 cm (15 15/16 × 20 1/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dan and Jeanne Fauci
Accession Number
2012.112.5
Art Historical Context
In the serene expanse of Mark Ruwedel's *Denver South Park and Pacific (1997), a silver print captures the haunting remnants of a storied narrow-gauge railroad line that once carved through Colorado's rugged South Park region. Established in the 1870s, the, South Park and Pacific Railway symbolized the ambitious push of industrial expansion into the American West, ferrying miners, timber, and passengers amid the Rockies' challenging terrain. By the late 20th century, of its infrastructure lay abandoned, a testament to time's inexorable march—a theme central to Ruwedel's meditative landscape ph...
About the Artist
Mark Ruwedel
Mark Ruwedel, born on June 11, 1954, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, initially pursued painting, earning a BFA from Kutztown State College in 1978. He transitioned to photography during this time, later obtaining an MFA from Concordia University in Montreal in 1983. Working as a custom printer in Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1980 honed his technical skills before he relocated to Canada, where he taught a...