Painting by Fred Finley.
The caption read, Scene from the North Plant Forge Department, Atlas Steels Limited, Welland, Canada, showing a 12,000 lb pneumatic hammer and a 1000 ton press.
Date is unknown. The plant is still very much in business, now called Valbruna.
Apologies for the image quality, I photographed this print, hence the the glare in a few spots.
Here is some information from the National Gallery about the artist and a picture of him here. More from the Agnes Etherington Art Center here.
3 comments:
Hammer in the background, press in the foreground? If so, it's the hammer that looks like the looming, work-blackened pneumomechanical monster overseer, hands on hips, making sure that the scurrying humans do its bidding.
Steel mills make dramatic subjects! Anyone make the connection, steel mill, Atlas Shrugged?
The long-billed hats that the guys are wearing seem odd. At first I thought the guy on the right was wearing a fez but it's just that his head is turned upward. They don't seem practical for work in a mill but maybe the idea is you can pull them down to protect your face in an emergency? Or maybe it's just Fred taking artistic license.
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