Blast Furnaces 2
In 1919, Wadsworth returned to the Black Country to observe its furnaces and the terrains created by their industrial waste in greater detail. The following year, he exhibited thirty-seven Black Country drawings in London. Reviewers praised his ability to capture the scenes in all their brutality. A critic in The Times noted: "What he gives us is the terrific energy of the whole industrial process represented, as only energy can be represented, in rhythmical and orderly forms." In this woodcut, Wadsworth captured the power and environmental destruction of blast furnaces, designed to heat and melt iron to remove unwanted materials. Dominating the image are the clouds of waste expelled by the furnaces. Wadsworth rendered the smoke and gaseous forms with gracefully undulating lines, giving them a solidity equal to that of the structures.
Artwork Details
- Title: Blast Furnaces 2
- Artist: Edward Alexander Wadsworth (British, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire 1889–1949)
- Date: 1919
- Medium: Woodcut
- Dimensions: Sheet: 7 3/4 × 9 5/8 in. (19.7 × 24.4 cm)
Image: 5 3/8 × 7 1/4 in. (13.7 × 18.4 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Purchase, Leslie and Johanna Garfield Gift, Lila Acheson Wallace, Charles and Jessie Price, and David T Schiff Gifts, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, Dolores Valvidia Hurlburt Bequest, PECO Foundation and Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2019
- Object Number: 2019.592.548
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Edward Alexander Wadsworth
ca. 1918
Edward Alexander Wadsworth
1914
Edward Alexander Wadsworth
ca. 1914
Edward Alexander Wadsworth
1918
Edward Alexander Wadsworth
1919
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