• BECOMING MODERN

• MACHINE

• 1. "Machine Age"
• 2. Factory
• 3. Automobile
• 4. Airplane
• 5. Radio
• 6. Movies

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MACHINE

2. Factory

"The man who builds a factory builds a temple; the man who works there worships there." This sentiment, attributed to Calvin Coolidge, conveys the awe generated by a modern sprawling industrial complex.1 And none was as awe-inspiring as the Ford complex on the Rouge River near Detroit, begun in 1915 and completed in 1928 as Ford prepared to introduce the new Model A. Unlike the original Highland Park factory, it was more than an assembly plant. It was an empire, containing within its thousand acres a power plant, steel mills, blast furnaces, cement plant, machine shop, sawmill, paper mill, glass plant, the largest foundry in the world, and, of course, the auto assembly plant. "America's Mecca," wrote Vanity Fair that year, "the most significant monument in America." MONUMENT. And from a 21st-century perspective: "It was big. It was bold. It was breathtaking. For most of the 20th century, the world-famous River Rouge plant was a monumental complex that was the embodiment of manufacturing on an epic scale."2 EPIC. Let us examine this monument, this "temple," through photographs, paintings, and films that portray it as the apex of the Machine Age.

• Works of Charles Sheeler. In 1927 the photographer and painter Charles Sheeler was hired by Ford's advertising agency to create a series of photographs of the Rouge complex for its Model A marketing campaign. The photographs became almost as famous as the car, published first in Vanity Fair (February 1928) and still widely available for purchase. Captivated by the Rouge, Sheeler later depicted its robust monumentality in paintings of the precisionist style, of which he was a forerunner, which employed precise commanding lines, stark geometric shapes, little detail, no texture, and rarely included a human being. Three of the most famous paintings are American Landscape (1930), Classic Landscape (1931), and River Rouge Plant (1932). What response did Sheeler intend to evoke in the viewer? Why did he title two of the paintings "landscapes," a term usually applied to purely natural settings? Why is there no human presence in the paintings (except for a tiny figure in American Landscape)?

• Silent films of the Ford River Rouge complex, ca. 1932. Produced by the Ford Motor Company, these films are dynamic promotional pieces portraying the Ford complex as a triumph of the Machine Age—a behemoth that dwarfs mere humans. In A Tour thru the Rouge Plants, we join an airplane and bus tour of the complex; intertitles (black-panel text) describe its massive scale and productivity:

  • - "The Rouge Plants have an area of 1096 acres, 14 miles of roadways, 92 miles of railroad tracks, and 11/3 miles of docks."
  • - "You are looking at the enormous turbines used to generate power for the plants operations."
  • - "Everybody out please. Here is the main Power House which furnishes 150,000 horse power."
  • - "More than 3,750 tons of coke are produced daily from coal brought on Ford-owned ships from Ford-owned mines."
  • - "The Ford Motor Company goes right to Mother Earth for its materials in the form of coal and iron from Company-owned mines."

  If the film had a sound track, it would consist of blasting horns, a driving bass, and insistent percussions. The second film, The Source of the Ford Car, shows us the transport of resources to the Rouge plant from the Ford-owned Brazilian rubber plantations and Great Lakes coal mines and forests. We see close-up views of machine tooling, the auto manufacturing process, and the workers who man the machines. (Part Two is not available online.) Compare the impressions and impact of the Ford films with the Sheeler paintings and photographs. What is gained with movement? with a still image? How might the films have been different if Sheeler had produced them?

For commentary on the factory environment for the working men, see "Machine Age."

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