Untitled 1930

This is an untitled photograph by Piet Zwart, probably made in the Netherlands in the 1920s or 30s. It depicts the interior of a wood factory. The image presents a bird’s-eye view of stacks of lumber underneath a vast industrial roof. Zwart had ties to the De Stijl movement, a Dutch artistic movement that advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and colour. As such, one might be tempted to see the aesthetic influence of De Stijl in the geometric composition and the stark contrast of light and shadow here. However, to truly understand the work we need to consider its place in the history of institutional power. Zwart was not only an artist but also a designer, and this photograph was most likely created for commercial purposes. What does it mean to aestheticize the space of industrial production? What is the public role of such images? These are some of the questions a social art historian would ask. To answer them, we might consult archives of design history and the history of labour.