Generator of Jobs

Painting

Purdue University Galleries

Name/Title

Generator of Jobs

Entry/Object ID

1994.38.01

Type of Painting

Easel

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil

Acquisition

Accession

1994.38

Source or Donor

Bituminous Coal Institute

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of the Bituminous Coal Institute

Notes

Presented to Purdue in 1947

Made/Created

Artist

Rockwell Kent

Date made

1946

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Signature

Location

Front of canvas, bottom right corner

Transcription

Rockwell Kent

Material/Technique

Painted, In Artist's Hand

Type

Inscription, Plaque, Receiver Marking

Location

Front of frame, bottom center

Transcription

ENDLESS ENERGY FOR LIMITLESS LIVING AN ORIGINAL PAINTING BY ROCKWELL KENT IN HIS FRAMED SERIES PORTRAYING THE MIGHT AND POWER OF COAL PAINTED FOR BITUMINOUS COAL INSTITUTE AND PRESENTED IN DECEMBER 1947 TO PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Language

English

Material/Technique

Engraved

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Painting

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Dimensions

Height

38 in

Width

44 in

Color

Blue, Light blue, Yellow, White, Black, Red, Green, Brown, Gray, Cream

Exhibition

Pao Student Windows (2024)

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

"In 1945, Kent was commissioned by the Bituminous Coal Institute, the public relations department of the National Coal Association in Washington, D.C., to produce a series of twelve paintings to be used as advertisements for the coal industry. “Generator of Jobs” (later erroneously labeled “Endless Energy for Limitless Living”) was commissioned in December 1945 as the seventh in the series. The ad appeared in February 1946 in U.S. News, the Saturday Evening Post, Liberty, as well as a few others. The series ended in July 1946 and was then put on display in the B.C.I. offices. In 1948 it was broken up and each painting was donated to a school with a well-regarded mining program "