Untitled (interior of manufacturing plant) c. 1945

This gelatin silver print of a factory interior was made by Robert Burian at an unknown date. The photographic image allows us to consider the factory as a social space and to reflect on the relationship between culture and industry. Factories have been a subject for artists ever since the Industrial Revolution transformed Western society. Burian’s image is aligned with other factory photographs, like those commissioned by the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s. The photographic negative is striking in its reversal of light and dark, and it invites us to think about the politics of imagery. How can a photograph document a social reality but also transform it? Does this image celebrate or critique the culture of manufacturing? To understand this artwork better, we might research the history of manufacturing and labor relations in the twentieth century. By studying the social and institutional context of the image, we can understand better the role of the historian in interpreting art.