Stroopbordes 1917 - 1938

Here's this sepia print of a stroop making platform, made by an anonymous artist. Imagine the artist setting up the camera, framing this industrial interior. There's a sense of geometry, order, and repetition, the structure receding into the distance. I wonder what caught their eye? Maybe it was the pattern of the metalwork, or the way the light filters through the factory roof. It feels like the artist is trying to make sense of the modern world. This kind of image reminds me of the work of the Bauhaus artists, who were interested in the relationship between art, technology, and industry. They too were drawn to the beauty and strangeness of the machine age. It's like they are trying to find a new language, a way to express the energy and dynamism of this changing world. Maybe the platform speaks to them of the future. A future that's now our past. Artists are always in conversation with one another, building on each other’s ideas.