AA Motel, Holdrege, Nebraska, May 22, 1981

Images(2)

AA Motel, Holdrege, Nebraska, May 22, 1981

Artist Steve Fitch (American, born 1949)

DateNegative 1981, print 2021

MediumPigment print

DimensionsImage: 15 × 19 in. (38.1 × 48.3 cm)
Support: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)

ClassificationsPhotograph

Credit LineGift of Steve Fitch, 2021

Object number2021.10.9

DescriptionLandscape at dusk with illuminated neon motel sign near center. In background at left are two trees and a distant illuminated sign. On the ground to the right of the sign is a black box, a telephone booth with illuminated sign on top and a telephone pole. Beside the pole and running diagonally through the middle of the page is a paved street, beyond which are train tracks with a passing train. Sky is blue at top and mauve toward horizon.
eMuseum Notes

Emuseum Notes

The artist was on his way to Antigo, Wisconsin, to lean how to bend neon when he stopped to photograph this motel sign near U.S. 6 and the railroad tracks. It’s location is slightly east of the 100th meridian in central Nebraska, the traditional demarcation for the West. The picture offers a time capsule of communication and transportation, with a bright neon sign to attract motorists, a speeding train, and an old-fashioned telephone booth. Though advertising motel accommodations, the sign also offers camping, promising everything will be utterly “modern.”

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