Study for ‘Invention of the Combing Machine’ c. 1862

Editor: So, here we have Alfred Elmore's "Study for ‘Invention of the Combing Machine’." It's… moody, right? Almost melodramatic. What's your take on this piece? Curator: Melodrama, yes, but tinged with a very human drama. The woman, almost radiant in the window light, contrasts sharply with the others cloaked in shadow. I think it is a look at the anxieties and hopes intertwined with progress. Editor: So, it is all about industrialization? Curator: I think that is just one way to see it. It's a snapshot of a world on the brink, clinging to the past while reaching for the future. It makes you think, doesn't it? Editor: Definitely. I never thought of it that way before.