Alajálov commemorated the final year of World War II for The New Yorker (1945) magazine illustrating a coach of a passenger train filled with exhausted, sleeping soldiers and sailors, rumbling on in the dark, while a staid couple eats a picnic meal.
The blasé couple and their luncheon basket sit on a Louis Vuitton suitcase. They have chinaware and flatware, napkins, and the accouterments for a fine meal. A basket with a roasted chicken and a thermos bottle with coffee rests on their laps. Dessert is a dish of berries or a berry-covered cake,
The man and woman eat unperturbed and do not care that a food hawker sells sandwiches and drinks behind them. They might as well be in a dining room at home, and it’s a picnicky moment diverting attention from the war.
Featured Image: Constantine Alajálov. Picnic on a Train, in The New Yorker (March 24, 1945). Typically of the time, there is no diversity in this traincar.