Images of Industry

Industrial subject matter has fascinated artists since the dawn of the industrial revolution in eighteenth-century Europe. Artistic responses have run the gamut from representing the sites of industrial activity with awe and wonder, to ennobling the labor of industrial workers, to highlighting the environmental impact of industry and industrial by-products. The following works from the Museum’s collections represent a cross section of such artistic responses, which offer a historical context to the exhibition Rouge: Michael Kenna.