Subways and Civilization

A New Deal painting honors a triumph of democracy

Furedi, Lily. “Subway,” 1934, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Image in public domain.

If there were a contest for “sentimental favorite” among works owned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the winner could be “Subway” by Lily Furedi (1896–1969).

That might seem an odd pick.

After all, Furedi’s painting doesn’t earn a mention on most lists of highlights of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

SAAM/National Portrait Gallery building, as seen from Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Author photo.

The museum has many stunning paintings and sculptures on display in its home, which is the former Patent Office building in downtown Washington, D.C. The museum’s collection includes paintings by famous artists such as Mary Cassatt, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Left to right: Cassatt, Mary, The Caress, 1902; Albert Bierstadt, Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley, ca. 1872; both images, which are in the public domain, provided by the website of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

But it seems people who have spent time in New York City have great affection for Furedi’s painting.

That’s quite a lot of people when you think about it.

It includes people who have studied or pursued their dreams at some point in New York City…