Untitled (Production of frozenEgg) c. 1940

This photograph by Karl Theodor Gremmler captures the production of frozen egg. It’s a black and white image, tonally quite soft, which I think lends the whole scene a clinical atmosphere. The image shows an industrial kitchen: a person’s hand, a large metal container with a tap, a scale and a container being filled with the liquid. The texture is all very smooth, reflecting the light: the metal of the vat, the enamel of the scale, the liquid being poured from the tap. If you look at the way Gremmler has framed the filling of the carton, the liquid has a sort of sculptural quality. I am reminded of the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, who photographed industrial structures: water towers, coal bunkers, but here the subject is liquid. I see this image as an interesting predecessor to the later works of artists like Ed Ruscha who played with the graphic qualities of gas stations and commercial products. The beauty is in the mundane, I suppose.