Label
(from 2014.Old Walks and New)
Joseph Pennell, American, 1857-1926
Gas Mond, Dudley Port, 1909, etching
In the early 20th-century, many American artists embraced industrial subjects, championing the progress brought by modern science and technology. Especially interested in such themes, Joseph Pennell in 1916 published his book, Pictures of the World of Work. In this etching, the path takes the viewer to the immense Mond gas works in Dudley Port, England. The Mond gas process, invented by Ludwig Mond in 1889, converted coal into a gas used as an industrial and domestic fuel. Unlike later Depression artists, who focused on the worker, Pennell’s concern is with the power of industry.