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| Frank C. Lewis |
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L.J.M. Daguerre, Parisian Boulevard, 1839 |
Frank Lewis, an instructor in Art History, director of exhibitions and curator of the Wriston Art Gallery, gave a lecture yesterday (10/29/10) opening for the show,
Wisconsin Labor: A Contemporary Portrait. His lecture revolved around the change in media towards labor through time. He started with a photograph taken in 1839, Parisan Boulevard. He pointed out that since the camera takes a long exposure time, even the busy street (Parisan) looked empty. The only one that stood out was the person who stopped to get his shoes polished. From there, he pointed out that the shoes polisher was not photograph, and that symbolized how the labor in those days were ignored.
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| Power House Mechanic by Lewis Hine 1910 |
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| Kingfisher by David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson, 1845 |
Through time, he said, the labor got recognized as individual. Before, it was all about the landscape and individuals that expressed their love for the land. Right around 1845, labor took on a different turn where individuals are getting recognized (photographed) for what they do. Then the age of machines started. In 1900, machines started to gain significance. Picture by
Hine depicted a true sense of man becoming one with the machines. At this stage, one can say that the machine and man works together. That was true until the study of
Frederick Taylor, Movement Analysis. He changed labor from individual with specialized skills to a replaceable machine cog. He researched on what each individual can do to optimize the efficiency. As a by-product, man became a part of a machine and lost their individuality, as portray in the picture by
Edward Burtynsky.
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| Manufacturing #17, by Edward Burtynsky | | |
And here is the "future" depiction played by Charlie Chaplin.
I don't know if the Hine is trying to end his meaning in his photo with the man is equal with the machine. I think that that is an initial reaction, but upon further investigation we notice the smoother tonality in his muscles and see those natural forms as being very separate from the machine's circularity. We see similarity, but contrast as well.
ReplyDeleteOnce the industrial revolution took hold, to what extent did humans start thinking of themselves as machines or machine like in their function?
ReplyDelete