Nevada Short Line
1998
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 19.1 × 24.3 cm (7 1/2 × 9 9/16 in.) mount: 40.64 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dan and Jeanne Fauci
Accession Number
2012.112.2
Art Historical Context
Mark Ruwedel's *Nevada Short Line* (1998) captures the stark beauty of the American West through a gelatin silver print, a classic black-and-white photographic process prized for its rich tonal range and fine detail. This intimate image, measuring 19.1 × 24.3 cm on a larger 40.64 × 50.8 cm mount, likely depicts remnants of a short-line railroad in Nevada rugged terrain—those narrow-gauge tracks once vital to remote mining and freight operations in the late 19th early 20th centuries. Ruwedel, a master of landscape photography, often explores humanity's fleeting marks on the land, turning indust...
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...