<I>Medicine and Transportation</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1942-1944
name: label: Created by
content: Thelma Johnson Streat, American, 1911 - 1959
notes: label: Caption
content: Thelma Johnson Streat (1911–1959)
label: Caption
content: Medicine and Transportation, ca.1940
label: Caption
content: Tempera and oil on paper mounting board
label: Caption
content: Conservation funded by grant from the
label: Caption
content: Bank of America Art Conservation Project
label: Caption
content: Thelma Johnson Streat’s Medicine and Transportation is a mural study created to acknowledge and celebrate African American contributions to the fields of medicine and transportation. In 1940 she assisted Mexican muralist Diego Rivera during the creation of his Pan American Unity (commissioned for the Golden Gate International Exposition). Rivera’s frequent use of proletarian themes and complex tableaux had a profound influence on the young artist.
label: Caption
content: In this work, Streat incorporated a variety of vignettes, including images of black Americans working in scientific laboratories, drafting plans, and performing skilled manual labor. The results of these endeavors—innovations in flight, the rail system, fuel equipment, and technology—are pictured in the top section of the mural.
label: Description
content: This mural study includes depictions of various transportation and scientific industries. It is divided into two fields, an upper and a lower. The upper depicts examples of transportation technology, including a railroad engine, a propeller plane, a blimp, and a combustible engine. They are painted using broad streaks of color, contrasted with blocks of black and white. The lower field depicts a scene of science and technology, with African-American figures at work in a laboratory, a metal refinery, and a mine, set against a background of industrial scenes. On the back in the top left-hand corner is a partial graphite sketch of the airplane.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Education
label: Topic
content: Labor
label: Topic
content: Medicine
label: Topic
content: Science
label: Topic
content: Technology
label: Topic
content: Transportation
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, 1933-1945
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2012.13.1
objectType: label: Type
content: studies (visual works)
label: Type
content: paintings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Thelma Johnson Streat Project
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: tempera and oil paint on paper mounting board
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (unframed): 15 9/16 × 15 3/16 in. (39.6 × 38.6 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (framed): 20 3/4 × 20 7/8 × 3 in. (52.7 × 53 × 7.6 cm)