Though many of us overlook the industrial structures that define our national landscape, artists of the so-called “Machine Age” (1910 to the late 1940s) viewed America’s factories, plants, and skyscrapers as fundamentally modern monuments. Rapid technological and industrial development characterized this era, which saw an influx of machinery that affected the daily lives of the majority of Americans. The construction of skyscrapers, bridges, roads, and dams boomed in the 1930s, with many major building projects sponsored by the United States government to aid those left jobless by the Great Depression.

Many of the resulting photographs, prints, and drawings emphasize the massive scale of industrial machines and structures in relation to the miniscule, and frequently absent, human figure. While some artists represented industrial subjects as part of a conventional, recognizable landscape, others focused on simplified geometric forms and repetitive shapes, detaching their subjects from a specific time or place. Drawn from works in the Carter’s permanent collection, this exhibition presents those artists who were particularly interested in capturing the rapid evolution of industry in America.