Charles Sheeler, American; Ford Plant, River
Rouge, Blast Furnace and Dust Catcher, 1927 gelatin silver
print. Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Lane Collection.
Sheeler worked primarily in the steel production areas of the
Rouge complex. This view shows an exterior portion of the blast
furnace that was used to melt iron ore into hot liquid or molten
iron, which became the basis for steel.
As written in Creative Art magazine in 1931, art collector and
dealer Samuel Kootz described the impact of Sheeler’s small,
but monumental, works: “The language of art is always dominant
in these Ford photographs. The fine drawing, the athletic tenseness
of line, the plastic sequences, the exquisite textures, the intricate
rhythms, are as sure, as conscious, as the best modern painting.” |
