Industrial Pagodas 1941

Alexander Zerdin Kruse made this print using an etching technique, a method that involves drawing with needles on a metal plate covered with wax, and then bathing the plate in acid. The resulting fine lines capture the angular monumentality of the scene: a factory or processing plant. It is easy to imagine the kind of work that took place inside this building. The rendering is stark, almost severe. It is as though Kruse admired the factory for the same reason that the Cubists admired machines: as a symbol of ruthless efficiency, a force that was transforming the world. The title “Industrial Pagodas” is important: pagodas are East Asian towers built as temples. Kruse is suggesting that in the modern world, the factory has replaced the temple as a site of reverence. It is a statement about the new religion of industry and the structures that house the work, and workers, of this new order. As you look at this image, consider the relationship between materials, making, and context, and how this challenges traditional notions of fine art and craft.