Smokestack c. 1930

Curator: This is Hans Finsler's "Smokestack," a photograph taken around 1930. Editor: It’s striking, isn't it? The towering stack looms against a seemingly infinite sky, very bleak. I’m immediately thinking about industrial alienation. Curator: Yes, Finsler’s composition highlights the geometric forms, a characteristic of Precisionism, in which artists sought to capture the machine age with clarity and order. This particular work reminds us of the rising industry within Europe at the time, it truly evokes that sense of newness, as the landscape was ever changing. Editor: And the ladder scaling the smokestack's side really draws the eye upwards, inviting the viewer to consider the people who built it and continue to maintain these structures. What were the politics of these landscapes, who really profited? What emissions are being sent up to that stark sky above us? Curator: Certainly, the ladder provides scale and draws the eye, which in turn leads us to engage with this form more intimately. We also need to remember the Bauhaus movement where Finsler taught. The New Objectivity that took root in the Weimar Republic embraced industry as progress and innovation. Editor: I appreciate how you bring up the "New Objectivity" since we tend to over-romanticize early modernist visions of industry and technology without critically looking at the context around it. The photograph gives an idealized portrait of progress, overlooking concerns of class, labor and the effect this all had on working communities. Curator: Absolutely, but by focusing on shape and form, Finsler also emphasizes a kind of austere beauty and order. It also acts as an historical marker, encapsulating a specific socio-political vision, captured in monochrome. Editor: I am just so fascinated by the social tensions that are quietly captured in this work. How does one reconcile aesthetic beauty with the environmental and societal implications of industrial production? The ladder suggests upward mobility, the smokestack represents production but it all seems so distant, almost dreamlike. Curator: That push and pull is something Finsler captures adeptly and brings awareness to our modern sensibilities, that industrial development also comes at a cost. Editor: Looking at this again, it encourages important reflection about history. There is beauty but there is struggle embedded within its tones and shapes.