West Texas Rail Station 1938

Jerry Bywaters drew "West Texas Rail Station" with ink on paper in 1933. The drawing has an urgent, hatched feel—the artist capturing the Hovey station's architecture, the railroad tracks disappearing into the horizon. I imagine Bywaters outside the station. Maybe it's early morning, and the Texas sun is starting to beat down. He squints, kneels to get the right perspective. With each mark, the station comes alive—the geometry of the building, the wooden fence, the cacti at the side of the tracks. You can almost feel the weight of the sky, sense a quiet energy of the Texan landscape. It reminds me of Edward Hopper’s paintings—the same American scene, but without the color, stripped down to its bare bones. Hopper, Bywaters, and many more artists working at the time were capturing the nation, moment by moment. These artists respond to the quiet corners of America that might otherwise go unnoticed. Each artist offers a conversation with the next.