Maurice Broomfield: Industrial Sublime
Free exhibition at V&A
Maurice Bloomfield: Industrial Sublime - V&A - Free
On now until 6 November 2022.
The name ‘Broomfield’ is nowadays associated with award-winning documentary film-maker Nick Broomfield, but from the end of WW2 to the 1980s, his father Maurice was well-known for his pioneering photographs of dramatic scenes from manufacturing. Usually commissioned by the titans of industry, these shots instilled pride at the workers’ nobility and courage while simultaneously presenting the achievements of industry in visually striking images that would have been at home with the Bauhaus photographers.
Maurice Broomfield left school at 15 and worked briefly in a factory, but he taught himself photography, and, after the war, in which he was a conscientious objector and worked as an ambulance crewman, he travelled to European capitals to take photographs of the devastated cities. It was on his return to the UK that he started capturing working people in industry. He took pains to get the lighting and setting right, and the chiaroscuro and unusual - even aerial - angles add to the potency. In the colour photos, flashes of colour catch the eye. Factory floor lines are clean and geometrically perfect. The might of machinery and the danger from immutable natural elements - fiery flames from furnaces, the deep, dark unknown of the shimmering water around North Sea oil rigs - contrasts with the dignified human figures controlling and harnessing this natural power.
Today, with what we know about exploitative work practices - the risks to which workers were subjected, the lack of safety gear, low pay, lack of sickness benefits/paid leave - and with our knowledge of environmental pollution/damage, the compelling images also conjure disquiet. In G.A. Harvey Factory (1948), for example, an avalanche of sparks falls onto bare-armed men wearing no safety equipment. But this increases the power; we are drawn to them as shocking historical documents as well as perfectly choreographed and captured images.
