Hitching Post c. 1937

Cornelius Christoffels made this watercolor painting of a Hitching Post sometime in the first half of the 20th century. The image depicts a utilitarian object, isolated against a blank background. But what could such an object tell us about social and cultural history? Consider the context: Christoffels lived through a period of massive technological change. As automobiles became more common, the horse-drawn carriage trade declined. This image evokes a vanishing past, before the rise of mass automobile ownership changed the look and feel of urban and rural life. We might compare this image with other contemporary depictions of similar objects. The artist has chosen to represent the scene in a very particular way: the plain, unadorned style makes it suited for use in a history textbook, for instance, or perhaps a mail-order catalog. The art historian can explore archives and other records, such as census data and business directories, to better understand the world that this image documents.