Virginia and Truckee
1996
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 19 × 24.1 cm (7 1/2 × 9 1/2 in.) mount: 40.6 × 50.6 cm (16 × 19 15/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of John Divola
Accession Number
2016.50.4
Art Historical Context
Mark Ruwedel's *Virginia and Truckee*1996) is a striking gelatin silver print capturing the remnants of a historic railroad line in the American West. Named after the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, played a pivotal role in the19th-century Comstockode silver boom by transporting ore from Nevada's Virginia City mines to mills in Carson City, the photograph likely documents the enduring scars left by these tracks on the rugged landscape. Ruwedel, a contemporary photographer renowned for his meticulous black-and-white studies of abandoned railroads and desert ruins, invites viewers to contemplate ...
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...