Ford Plant, River Rouge, Blast Furnace and Dust Catcher

Front / Recto

• Title Ford Plant, River Rouge, Blast Furnace and Dust Catcher
• Negative Date November 1927
• Print Date 1927–44
• Medium Gelatin silver print
• Dimensions Image 9 1/2 × 7 9/16" (24.1 × 19.2 cm)
  Sheet 9 15/16 × 7 15/16" (25.2 × 20.2 cm)
  Mount 9 15/16 × 8" (25.3 × 20.3 cm)
  
• Place Taken River Rouge
• Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Horace W. Goldsmith Fund through Robert B. Menschel and gift of Lincoln Kirstein, by exchange
• MoMA Accession Number 1858.2001
• Copyright © 2015 The Lane Collection

Back / Verso

• Mount Type Mount (original)
• Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed on the negative, appears on sheet recto, top right: 5.
• Provenance The artist; to Van Deren Coke, Santa Fe, 1944 [1]; to Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, 1987 [2]; to Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, 1987 [3]; purchased by Thomas Walther, 1987–88 [4]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
  [1] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 21.
  [2] Ibid.
  [3] Ibid.
  [4] Ibid.; and Pace/MacGill invoice no. 2606, n.d, annotated with Thomas Walther archival no. TW 870602.

Surface

• Surface Sheen Matte
• Techniques Mount
  Contact print
  
• PTM
  

  View of the recto of the artwork made using reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) software, which exaggerates subtle surface details and renders the features of the artwork plainly visible. Department of Conservation, MoMA
• Micro-raking
  

  Raking-light close-up image, as shot. Area of detail is 6.7 x 6.7 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA

  

  Raking-light close-up image, processed. Processing included removal of color, equalization of the histogram, and sharpening, all designed to enhance visual comparison. Department of Conservation, MoMA

Paper Material

• Format Imperial
• UV Fluorescence Recto negative
  Verso no data
• Fiber Analysis No fiber data available
• Material Techniques Developing-out paper
  
• XRF

  This work was determined to be a gelatin silver print via X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry.

  The following elements have been positively identified in the work, through XRF readings taken from its recto and verso (or from the mount, where the verso was not accessible):

  • Recto: Al, P, S, Cl, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb
  • Mount: Al, Si, S, Ca, Cr, Fe, Zn, Br, Sr, Ba, Pb

  The graphs below show XRF spectra for three areas on the print: two of the recto—from areas of maximum and minimum image density (Dmax and Dmin)—and one of the verso or mount. The background spectrum represents the contribution of the XRF instrument itself. The first graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the lower energy range (0 to 8 keV). The second graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the higher energy range (8 to 40 keV).

  

  Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
  Elements identified: Al, Si, P, S, Cl, Ca, Cr, Ag, Ba

  

  Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
  Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Br, Sr, Ag, Pb

In Context

Related Images

Charles Sheeler. American Landscape. 1930. Oil on canvas, 24 x 31" (61 x 78.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. © 2014 Estate of Charles Sheeler

Historical Publications

• Jolas, Eugene. “The Industrial Mythos.” Transition, nos. 16–17 (June 1928).

  Sheeler, Charles. "Four Photographs: Ford Plant.” Hound and Horn 3, no. 3 (1930): insert between pp. 402 and 403.

  Kootz, Samuel M. “Ford Plant Photos of Charles Sheeler.” Creative Art 8, no. 4 (1931): 264–67.

  World’s Work, 1931.

  “Sheeler Finds Beauty in the Commonplace.” Life 5, no. 6 (1938): 45 (as Abstract–Ford Plant).

Related People

• Artist

  • Charles Sheeler