Object Image

Fire Hydrant & Stucco Teepee Bus Shelter. Old US 80, now TX 20, Canutillo, Texas

Some of Dow's subjects are willful historical misconceptions. A stucco teepee, situated next to a fire hydrant in Canutillo, Texas, attempts to replicate a portable shelter used by Plains Indians. In reality, the object is an immobile bus shelter. Recalling this subject, Dow notes: "Canutillo is a small town in an area near the border, full of dusty parking lots of double-wide trailer home dealerships. It was hard to imagine any bus rider waiting in that shelter or, in fact, getting any water out of that fire hydrant, which was put there, no doubt, in anticipation of houses that never came."

Gift of the Hall Family Foundation

1975
Gelatin silver print
7.7 x 9.7in
2018.51.52
Text © The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2020

Where you'll find this

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Permanent collection