“That's a mean old fireman, cruel old engineer. It was a mean old train that took my man away from here.” This line from Trixie Smith’s song “Freight Train Blues,” helped inspire the painting above called “Slow Down Freight Train.” Simplistic art such as this leaves it almost completely up to the viewer to interpret their own meaning and message. I like how the simplistic style causes each detail to permit audiences a chance to find their own unique story concerning the message the painting sends.

Rose Piper was heavily influenced by black folk music around the time that she painted Slow Down Freight Train. During this time the Great Migration, a time when large numbers of black men left their families to secure a job and new home for them, was drawing to a close. The painting depicts a black man aboard a train car gazing out its open door at the green landscape lined with power lines outside. The painting obviously tells the story of this man during his own migration. From this scene one would think that it was just a long, boring, and lonely trip because all that is visible is this single man and a small bit of the landscape. I doubt that the train rides were truly lonely though. I mean, it had to be called the Great Migration for a reason right? There were probably, at the very least, small groups of people aboard each open car. Slow Down Freight Train’s depiction of a solitary figure is, again, blatantly symbolic (I say blatantly because even I picked up on it pretty quickly).

The image of a single solitary man sitting in a boxcar is symbolic of two things: the loneliness that was felt by every individual after having left his family and the freedom felt by setting off on one’s own to find a new beginning. The lack of detail in his face allows the painting to be seen either way. The mouth is partly open and the lack of eyes or eyebrows leaves the facial expression, given by only the mouth and angle of the head, entirely ambiguous. It would make sense to interpret the expression as if he were longingly looking back towards home over his shoulder whilst singing a blues song. After all, Piper was heavily influenced by the blues during the time she painted this, and the subject matter is a man who left his family behind. It could also be seen as if he were happily singing about getting away to start a new life. Happiness is most certainly another option to consider as a topic since the subject is about a black man leaving the South where racism still ran rampant at the time. The common theme, though, no matter what emotion is seen, is singing. The angle of the head makes it hard to imagine him talking unless, of course, he were talking to someone behind him, but the painting clearly shows him all by his lonesome self. On the other hand, one could easily imagine this guy singing a song and moving his head along with the emotion of his song. There is, however, another message that lies deeper than the rest of these more seemingly obvious themes.

The deeper meaning comes from the title of the painting: Slow Down Freight Train. This struck me after all of the other things because I look at works of art for their content rather than their titles, be they paintings, drawings, songs, stories, or movies (all of those are works of art in my opinion). The only time I ever normally look at the title of a work of art is if I really like it and want to be able to find it later on the internet. Since I was analyzing this work I looked at all of the aspects and came to notice something in light of the title. It is explaining how the ride is rough and when you arrive at your destination the landing is rougher and you want nothing more than to slow down and take it easy.

The ride in this case is not simply the literal train ride (although that is part of it); it is mainly symbolic of the life and transitions that the average black person went through during the time of the Great Migration. It was a crappy life back at home in the racist and angry South, so a man had to leave his family behind to face that life on their own for a time while he went in search of a better one on his own. Searching for and finding a place to stay was rough enough (the ride) but actually managing to set up a home and a job and become established enough in that new place for the family to follow (the landing) was harder than any of the previous steps. Sometimes we all wish the freight train called life would slow down and give us a chance to catch our breath and prepare for the jump into the next chapter of our lives. Even if you aren’t black and haven’t gone through the hardships that this painting represents you can still relate to it and make a connection with it on a deeper level.

Rose Piper used her simplistic style to get across multiple meanings and subtle messages in her paintings. Her work was not only her profession, but also her passion. It was her way of bringing a different world, the world of the people whose culture she immersed herself in, to light for those who either weren’t aware or didn’t care, making it harder to turn a blind eye to. Not only did she bring the plights of others out into the open, she made it easy for others to relate to it in their own way. It was her way of giving recognition to those that she felt deserved it. The beauty of simple art is that it works on so many different levels just as effectively, if not more so, than complex works of art by showing only what is necessary to get the point across.