On View
On viewObject number1963/4.597
Coal Barge
Artist
Miklos Suba
(American, 1880 - 1944)
Date1937
Mediumoil on canvas board
Dimensionsframe: 24 × 20 × 1 5/8 in. (61 × 50.8 × 4.1 cm)
board: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
board: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dorothy Upjohn Dalton
Exhibition History"Miklos Suba," KIA (Mar. 1964).
"American Perspectives: Modernism from the Collection," KIA Long Gallery (Apr. 25 - Aug. 30, 2009).
"American Perspectives on Modernism" KIA Traveling Exhibition, University of Mary Washington (Jan. 26 - Apr. 2, 2017).
"American Perspectives on Modernism" KIA Traveling Exhibition, Hoyt Art Center, New Castle, PA (Sept. 14 - Nov. 12, 2021).Label TextMiklós Suba established himself as both an architect and painter, developing a sustained interest in the built environment of his adopted home, New York City. In works such as Coal Barge, Suba turns his attention to the infrastructure that supported industrial modernization. The painting depicts a vessel transporting coal along American waterways, linking rural mining sites to the urban centers that depended on this essential source of energy.
These barges played a crucial role in supplying power plants and docks, delivering fuel used to heat homes and sustain commercial life. Rather than focusing on city life, Suba emphasizes the systems of movement and labor that made urban life possible. His work reflects a rapidly industrializing nation where transportation networks and resource extraction increasingly shaped everyday experiences and the connections between American urban and rural communities.
[Label Text: For the People: America at 250 Exhibition, June 27 - October 4, 2026]
