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Activities: Context Activities Modernity and Technology: The Age of Machines  Back to Context Activities
Americans' fascination with and dependence upon a variety of machines was well established by the closing years of the nineteenth century; in the early years of the twentieth century, this fascination only deepened as technological innovation became more and more widespread. Most major cities relied on some form of mechanized public transit to get residents from one side of growing metropolises to the other, and more Americans bought the automobiles Henry Ford turned out at astonishing rates. There were only eight thousand automobiles in America in 1900, and by 1920 there were more than eight million. By 1940 that number had risen to thirty-two million. Electricity became more common: in 1917, only 24 percent of homes in America were electrified, and in 1940, almost 90 percent were. In his discussion of the machine age aesthetic, art historian Richard Guy Wilson contends that in America the machine became an integral part of the lives of a wider segment of society than was the case in Europe, infiltrating not only the workplace, but the home as well: refrigerators (up to seven million in 1934 from only sixty-five thousand in 1924), vacuum cleaners, and apartment building elevators became increasingly commonplace. The number of telephones jumped from one million in 1900 to twenty million in 1930, allowing Americans from far-flung parts of the country to communicate with one another. The radio, introduced in the 1920s, only enhanced the interconnectedness of Americans and their access to information and entertainment. (For more on the impact of the radio on American culture and poetry, see "Broadcasting Modernization: Radio and the Battle over Poetry" in Unit 10.) The development of the film industry likewise brought the "moving pictures" to an ever-widening audience, which increasingly looked to Hollywood for cues that would determine cultural values. With the advent of sound at the end of the 1920s, film became one of the major venues of American culture and Hollywood's influence expanded to become international in scope. In 1903, brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright proved that man could fly; in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville had a successful flight of twelve seconds. In 1927 Charles Lindbergh completed the first transatlantic airplane flight, which took him more than thirty-three hours. After landing in Paris, he became an international hero and celebrity, one of the multiplying cultural links between the United States and Europe in an age of ever-faster international movement of people and ideas. Literary critic Cecilia Tichi has argued that the machine age fundamentally changed the ways people viewed and thought about the world around them, as the human body itself came increasingly to be perceived as functioning like a machine. The efficiency expert Frederick Taylor developed a system to maximize profits by making factory workers as interchangeable as the parts in the machines they operated; as men and women came to be treated as interchangeable parts, their job security also lessened, for any worker could easily be replaced, a benefit for factory owners, but a significant disadvantage to the worker. These changes in the workplace certainly help to account for the rise in union membership coincident with the rise of Taylorism. The power and possibility embodied by machines captured the imagination of everyday people, and especially fascinated artists and writers. The poet Hart Crane, for example, found the Brooklyn Bridge a compelling symbol of the possibility of the United States; his selecting a structure that represented the beginnings of American technological expertise and innovation suggests his belief in the potential of the machine-made world. Painters likewise turned to the machines of the early twentieth century for inspiration, finding the power and speed of machines appealing and adapting the streamlined look of ships and cars to their own work. Charles Sheeler, a painter and photographer working in the early twentieth century, likened the heavy machinery of industry to the massive architecture of European cathedrals, asserting that "Our factories are our substitutes for religious expression." Architecture was also profoundly influenced by the possibilities opened up by machines, and city "skyscrapers" began to reach higher and higher. In 1909, the highest building in the world was the Metropolitan Life Tower, reaching 700 feet. In 1929, the Chrysler Building towered over it, its peak at an astounding 1046 feet. (It remained the tallest building in the world for only one year; the Empire State Building surpassed it in 1931.) The Chrysler Building, constructed for the Chrysler motorcar corporation, had a celebration of the machine built into its very fabric: architectural details used automotive motifs, and decorative elements were shaped like wheels and hood ornaments. The machine aesthetic influenced other areas of design as well, underpinning what came to be known as art deco, a streamlined style that drew on the vocabulary of machines, which designers applied to furniture, interior design, appliances, and jewelry. Music also experimented with the application of machine aesthetics to orchestral pieces, and works such as George Antheil's 1925 "Ballet Méchanique" were performed around the country. The machine also demonstrated its tremendous power not only to create but to destroy in World War I, where distant machines lobbed powerful explosives at enemies too far away to see. Rather than facing individual enemies on the battlefield, combatants in World War I dug trenches and waited for shells and gas to drop on them, and the resulting casualties were gruesome and more numerous than in any previous war. No one had imagined that such horror was possible, and the dangers that modern mechanization imposed on humanity suddenly became apparent. Questions
[4737] William France, New York City, Northeast View from the Empire State Building (1931), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-118869]. New York City's skyline symbolized the economic and technological developments that encouraged taller buildings and urbanization. [4766] Aaron Douglas, The Judgement Day (1927), courtesy of The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art. Aaron Douglas, American (1899-1979). Gouache on paper; 11 3/4 x 9 in. Douglas's painting incorporated images from jazz and African traditions, including music and dancing. [4841] Ben Shahn, Vacuum Cleaner Factory, Arthurdale, West Virginia (1937), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USF33-006352-M5]. Arthurdale was one of three New Deal subsistence farm projects in Preston County, West Virginia. Farming was intended to supplement other opportunities, such as in this vacuum factory or in the Mountain Craftsmen's Cooperative Association. Vacuum cleaners were a popular new item in the late 1920s and 1930s. [4848] Jack Delano, Blue Island, Illinois. Switching a Train with a Diesel Switch Engine on the Chicago and Rock Island Rail Road (1943), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USW3-026606-E DLC]. The Chicago and Rock Island Rail Road Company began operation in 1848. The 1930s saw the development of a lighter diesel engine capable of producing more horsepower that in turn brought great innovations to freight trains and streamlined "lightweight" passenger trains. [6547] Anonymous, Miss Katherine Stinson and Her Curtiss Aeroplane (1910), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-106324]. Curtiss biplane and early aviator Stinson (1891-1977), the fourth licensed woman pilot in the United States, was a talented stunt pilot who carried air mail, raised over two million dollars for the Red Cross, and trained pilots for the U.S. Air Force. [6898] Anonymous, Charles Lindbergh, Full-Length Portrait, Standing, Facing Front, Beside the Spirit of St. Louis (1927), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-93443]. Lindbergh became an international celebrity after he completed the first transatlantic flight. [7024] Nathan Sherman, Work with Care (c. 1937), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZC2-1172 DLC]. This woodprint was created as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project. The WPA provided over nine million people with sustaining wages by employing them to build roads, beautify buildings, play concerts, and write histories, along with a wide range of other activities. President Roosevelt's plan was to provide multiple forms of relief to the unemployed. [7032] Samuel H. Gottscho, New York City Views. From Foot 32 E.R., to Chrysler, Derrick Boom (1932), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-G612-T01-17832]. As technology developed, buildings grew taller and became known as "skyscrapers," making the modern cityscape profoundly different from the cityscapes of earlier ages. [7033] Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright, Major John F. Curry, and Colonel Charles Lindbergh, Who Came to Pay Orville a Personal Call at Wright Field (1927), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-DIG-ppprs-00765]. These aviation and military leaders, photographed at Dayton, Ohio, helped mobilize developments in transportation, such as airplanes and automobiles, which facilitated cultural exchange between distant locations and contributed to a sense of rapid change. [7194] Samuel H. Gottscho, New York City Views. Financial District, Framed by Brooklyn Bridge, courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-G612-T01-21249]. Hart Crane used the Brooklyn Bridge to represent modernization's unifying potential, while some authors perceived technology and urbanization to be fragmenting. [7479] Ford Motor Company, Ford Automobile, Made between 1900 and 1920 (c. 1915), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-118724]. The Ford Motor Company made automobiles available to more people, mass-producing and selling them for affordable prices. |
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