This path was created by Parker Temple. The last update was by George White.
Representing Engineering: the Eiffel Tower and the Woolworth Building
Before the day of these two artists, it was uncommon to portray specific works of architecture as the focus of a composition. When architecture or engineering was the subject of a particular work, the structures were normally subordinated to secondary focus in landscapes and genre scenes. Delaunay daringly broke tradition with his portrayals of Gustave Eiffel’s controversial, towering abstract structure of wrought iron. Across the Atlantic, John Marin, never one to abide by tradition himself, chose the monumental Woolworth Building as his focus. Both of these artists steered far from past precedent and chose modern marvels of engineering and technology as their subjects; utilizing these subjects as canvases, the artists painted their subjective views of modernity upon them. In both series’ cases, a structure of superb engineering was in some way destructed by tiltation, delineation, or fragmentation. The grand upheaval of both of these represented the destruction of the past, the upheaval of tradition and old society in a chaos of rapid movement, speed, and light. Delaunay and Marin – as well as the Futurists – sought to portray the modern metropolis and all of its experiences. Namely, this could be characterized by an individual’s near-constant state of overstimulation and sustained bombardment by the new, strange, wonderful, and terrifying. Within Champs de Mars: The Red Tower​, Delaunay best accomplishes this through his dizzying and rapid changes of perspective, dynamic sense of motion, flamboyant color usage, and sharp, slicing fragmentation of light. Marin similarly accomplishes this, in Woolworth Building No. 31, through his usage of destabilization through whirling, spiraling motion; rapid, rigid destructing of architecture; and the tumultuous chaos of the surrounding buildings and architecture within the city. Drawn to the Eiffel Tower and Woolworth Building by their superb and unparalleled engineering, the artists saw a unique opportunity to represent their urban, modern societies.
Parker Temple
