{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O239221"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O239221/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2012FE6349/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2012FE6349/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2012FE6349","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Maurice Broomfield","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O239221","accessionNumber":"E.3730-2007","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Preparing a Warp","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 female worker with a red headscarf operating weaving machinery","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Broomfield, Maurice","id":"A25870"},"association":{"text":"Photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"","id":""}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Digital C-type print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2012FE6349"],"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":"Pontypool","id":"x36524"},"association":{"text":"taken","id":"x46174"},"note":"British Nylon Spinners, Pontypool, Wales"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1964","earliest":"1964-01-01","latest":"1964-12-31"},"association":{"text":"taken","id":"x46174"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"2007","earliest":"2007-01-01","latest":"2007-12-31"},"association":{"text":"produced","id":"x30771"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"PROV.15697:8-2018","id":"O1464306"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Given by Maurice Broomfield","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"609","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"paper","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"509","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"paper","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Maurice Broomfield, 'Preparing a Warp', 1964, Digital C-type print, printed 2007","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"Maurice Broomfield, published by Foto8, 2009","free":"<u>Plate 40. Preparing a Warp</u>\r\n\"I have often been asked how or why did I get workers in factories to wear their everyday clothing. I didn't. Few industries provided special protective gear so it was normal for the men and women to wear their not-so-new, shabby clothing in the gfactory. Hence the stylish shoes and colourful headscarf.\"\r\nBritish Nylon Spinners, Pontypool, Wales, 1964"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"woman","id":"x35642"},{"text":"worker","id":"AAT25886"},{"text":"scarf","id":"x39955"},{"text":"weaving","id":"AAT53642"},{"text":"loom","id":"x29562"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"industrial location","id":"AAT55466"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Maurice Broomfield: Industrial Sublime, Gallery 100 (2021-2022)</b>\n\nPreparing a Warp from Nylon Yarn\r\nand page from job reference book\r\n1964\n\r\nBroomfield carried out 52 jobs for British Nylon Spinners between 1952 and 1964, making it one of his most consistent clients. He selected several images from his work for them to make exhibition prints that showed a range of activities. This image is a vibrant study in primary colours in which the woman’s headscarf and stylish shoes match the machine’s rollers.\r\n\nPreparing a Warp from Nylon Yarn\r\nBritish Nylon Spinners, Pontypool, Wales\r\n1964\r\nDigital C-type print, printed 2006\r\nGiven by the artist\r\nMuseum no. E.3730-2007\n\r\nPage from job reference book\r\nAbout 1964\r\nGelatin silver prints\r\nGiven by the artist\r\nMuseum no. AAD/2010/13/188","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"Broomfield made his name as the premier photographer of post-war British Industry, promoting an image of commercial success and technical progress. Though most of his photographs were originally made to illustrate company reports and trade journals, he sometimes exhibited in trade exhibitions and photographic society shows.\n\nBroomfield often created dramatically lit, black and white images (examples are shown nearby). However he also worked closely with Imperial Chemical Industries and Ilford to test new colour processes. The images shown here were printed in 2007 from scans made from original colour transparencies. Broomfield used vibrant, contrasting colours to capture the sense of the sublime and the surreal, which he found in the industrial workplace.","date":{"text":"20/03/2012","earliest":"2012-03-20","latest":"2012-03-20"}}],"partNumbers":["E.3730-2007"],"accessionNumberNum":"3730","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2007,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-17","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-08","availableToBook":false}}