{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O239212"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O239212/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019LJ2180/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019LJ2180/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019LJ2180","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JD5015","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O239212","accessionNumber":"E.3727-2007","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Tapping a Furnace","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Maurice Broomfield (1916-2010) worked to photograph the changing face of British manufacturing industries during the 1950s and 1960s.  His photographs are recognized for their uniquely modern design elements, humanist strain, and their contribution to the documentation of the rebirth of British industry in the post war era.\n\nBroomfield was often commissioned by  manufacturers to produce photographs of a company's product, facilities and workers. One approach that lent a special force to his photographs of industry was his attitude  towards workers; instead of emphasizing the mechanical or repetitive qualities of  modern work, he chose to illuminate the strength and sensitivity of individuals. In his  images, monumental machines and bizarre equipment are examined or operated by crisply attired men and women. \r\n\r\nHeavily influenced by the New Objectivity  aesthetic that emerged in Germany in the  1920s, Broomfield employed the use of dramatic lighting and unconventional camera  angles, but brought the aesthetic to new levels in his use of colour film. He worked closely with Imperial Chemical Industries  (ICI) and llford, the manufacturer of  photographic paper, to test new colour  processes. His, and the industry's shift, from black and white to colour, is represented in these 12 photographs.\r\n\r\nBroomfield's photographs were the focus of an exhibition at the Science  Museum entitled \"Maurice Broomfield's 'New  Look' at Industry\" (February-May, 2007). The exhibition highlighted Broomfield's  photographs as important records of the  post war era British manufacturing culture, but also pointed to their distinctly contemporary value: as the manufacturing sector has increasingly turned to cheaper  markets in Asia and elsewhere, these  photographs serve as reminders of a recent stage in Britain's manufacturing history.","physicalDescription":"A colour photograph of a worker with an iron rod supervising the production of molten metal from a blast furnace. Horizontal with oranges and greens.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Broomfield, Maurice","id":"A25870"},"association":{"text":"Photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Digital C-type print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2019LJ2180","2016JD5015"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"13","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Barking and Dagenham","id":"x29483"},"association":{"text":"taken","id":"x46174"},"note":"Ford Car Plant, Dagenham"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2007","earliest":"2007-01-01","latest":"2007-12-31"},"association":{"text":"Produced","id":"x30771"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"mid 20th century","earliest":"1925-01-01","latest":"1975-12-31"},"association":{"text":"taken","id":"x46174"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Maurice Broomfield","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"507","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"paper","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"609","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"paper","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Maurice Broomfield, 'Tapping a Furnace', 1954, Digital C-type print, printed 2007","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"Maurice Broomfield, published by Foto8, 2009","free":"<u>Plate 38. Tapping a Furnace</u>\r\n\"When this large furnace was tapped it was spectacular. Two men were controlling a river of molten metal.\"\nFord, Dagenham, Essex, 1954"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"iron","id":"AAT11002"},{"text":"metal","id":"AAT10900"},{"text":"worker","id":"AAT25886"},{"text":"blast furnace","id":"AAT6438"},{"text":"metalwork","id":"AAT15336"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"industrial location","id":"AAT55466"},{"text":"workplace","id":"AAT259547"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Maurice Broomfield: Industrial Sublime, Gallery 100 (202</b>1-2022)\n\nTapping a Furnace\r\nFord, Dagenham, Essex\r\n1954\n\r\nBroomfield was awed by the furnace site and the skill of the workers. In this shot, he conveys the magnitude of the operation. The single silhouetted figure, appearing to control the dazzling river of molten metal used for making steel, is ‘tapping’ the furnace. Tapping, also referred to as casting or drainage, is a process that removes impurities, hot metal and slag from the furnace hearth.\n\r\nDigital C-type print, printed 2006\r\nGiven by the artist\r\nMuseum no. E.3727-2007","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["E.3727-2007"],"accessionNumberNum":"3727","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2007,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Negative number","id":"THES50273"},"number":"CV120"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-17","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-08","availableToBook":false}}