Special Exhibit Series

The Museum regularly hosts exhibits depicting railroad art and photography as well as related railroad materials. These are typically presented in the second floor gallery and run for a number of months.

Railroads not only have attracted many fans, but have drawn the attention of skilled artists and photographers.

Current Exhibit

Railroads and the American Industrial Landscape: Ted Rose Paintings and Photographs, from Saturday, May 17 through December 31, 2008.   

The beauty and nobility of railroads are vividly illustrated in the impressive watercolor paintings and remarkable photographs of the late artist Ted Rose (1940-2002).

Railroads were a favorite subject for Rose and he depicted them, their people and varied settings through expressive colors and unique and compelling compositions.  Ted Rose is probably best known on a national level for the wonderful paintings he created for the U. S. Postal Service’s All Aboard 1999 train stamp series. 

“The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania was fortunate to have the extraordinary artist Ted Rose as a member of our Advisory Council,” notes Railroad Museum director David W. Dunn.  “This outstanding exhibition of his works, a number of which represent Pennsylvania subjects, will feature 23 amazing watercolors, 23 photographs and several monotypes and poster prints.  Ted Rose’s paintings and photographs often place the industry and culture of railroading in relation to human stories, sometimes literally as well as figuratively.”

Born and raised in  Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ted Rose graduated from the University of Illinois with a BFA in painting and minors in printmaking and history.  He served in the U. S. Army, including one Vietnam tour, and later worked for Kalmbach Publishing.  Following a move to Santa Fe, New Mexico, Rose worked as a successful graphic designer. 

In 1983, after a 20-year hiatus, he returned to his love of painting and quickly became known for his work in watercolors.  A full time painter, Rose was awarded signature memberships in the prestigious American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society.  What is less known about Ted Rose is that he was a remarkable photographer.  As a young man, he followed trains and rode the rails in the U. S., Canada, Mexico and Guatemala.  Rose’s stunning, mostly black-and-white, photographs taken during these journeys, capture the last days of active steam railroading.

“Railroads and the American Industrial Landscape: Ted Rose Paintings and Photographs” fine arts exhibition is conceived and produced by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art—www.railphoto-art.org—Madison, Wisconsin and the Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in cooperation with the Ted Rose Studio, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Selected exhibition images may be viewed at www.railroadheritage.org.

A catalogue of the exhibition, as well as Ted Rose’s book of paintings “In The Traces,” may be purchased at the Whistle Stop Shop museum store at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.