Untitled (A Fairly Modern Coal Mine, Electrified, In East Pennsylvania)
1920
Documentary photography meets industrial modernization in this striking image of mechanized coal extraction. Hine's keen eye for technological progress contrasts sharply with his earlier focus on exploitative labor conditions.
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Location
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Spotted works by Lewis Wickes Hine
Artists in conversation
Dorothea Lange
American · b. 1895
Lange's documentary photography shares Hine's commitment to capturing American labor and industrial life in gelatin silver prints with unflinching social realism. Her images document workers and harsh conditions with the same precise observational quality seen in this coal mine photograph.
Margaret Bourke-White
American · b. 1904
Bourke-White pioneered industrial photography in black and white during the same early modern era, celebrating and examining American mechanization and factory environments with striking compositional power. Her images of steel mills and industrial machinery parallel Hine's documentation of electrified coal extraction technology.
Walker Evans
American · b. 1903
Evans worked in the same American documentary tradition using gelatin silver prints to record working class labor environments and industrial subjects with stark clarity and social awareness. His straightforward photographic approach and interest in American labor culture closely align with the documentary realism of this specific Hine mine photograph.
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