[Automotive Component]
Draped sheets and soiled drop cloths transform the industrial interiors of a Philadelphia factory into makeshift photo studios. Isolated before them, the component parts of cars and trains become inadvertent elements of modernist picture-making. Deadpan views like this were once strictly utilitarian; they served as raw data to be cropped and incorporated into company pamphlets, patent illustrations, and instructional manuals. Nevertheless, the finely molded metal pieces are arranged before the camera with a keen attention to volume and scale. The factory’s in-house imaging team here exhibits a formal affinity with New Vision photographers, who were enamored, around this time, with the sleek aesthetic of American manufacturing.
Artwork Details
- Title: [Automotive Component]
- Artist: Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Co. (American, 1912–1946)
- Date: May 21, 1928
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: Image: 7 1/2 × 9 1/2 in. (19 × 24.1 cm)
Mount: 7 1/2 in. × 11 3/16 in. (19.1 × 28.4 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, David Hunter McAlpin Fund, by exchange, 2023
- Object Number: 2023.760
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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