Maurice Broomfield: Industrial Sublime

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum of photographs of industry by Maurice Bloomfield.

Bloomfield photographed the changing face of industry in the 1960s and 70s in style which made it look dramatic, romantic and sublime. I’ve recently done a course on The Sublime so I was particularly interested to see if he captured those ideas and he did.

Most of the work was done on commission by the companies for brochures, magazines and trade fairs so you have to remember that he was obliged to show his clients in a good light. He often asked the workers to return to the factory of an evening so he could enhance the light effects. His archive was donated to the museum in 2010.

Many of the images were dramatic focusing on the vastness of factories or on a detail of them take so close up that it almost became an abstract image. There were nods to the work of Wright of Derby, an 18th century artist that I love.

Closes 6 November 2022

Review

Evening Standard


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