Transformer at an Electric Power Station, United States 1936

Wouter Cool made this photograph of a Transformer at an Electric Power Station sometime between the wars. It's black and white, kind of utilitarian but also a bit dreamy. I'm thinking about Cool, walking around the power station, looking for an image to grab. Did he notice how the light bounces off those metal surfaces, turning cold steel into something shimmering? Or how the geometric shapes of the transformer echoed forms found in abstract art of the time? The composition is interesting, too. It feels balanced, grounded, solid. You can see the connections to constructivism. It suggests a connection between the practical world of industry and the higher aspirations of modern art. I wonder if Cool would have been aware of that conversation? What would he make of the way we see this image now?