Thursday, February 26, 2015

Pit-heads


These steampunkish forms were taken from yet more of the brilliant photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher. They were a German couple who devoted their photographic careers to documenting the old heavy industries of Europe and North America. The structures in the drawing are mine-heads, known as pit-heads in England where these were. The pit-head is where you pull things up from or let things down into the coal mine, using pulleys, rails, and big turning wheels. I love the intricacy of the iron openwork. There is so much visually interesting material in these works to, uh, mine.

Sepia brown technical pen ink on sketchbook page, 3 1/2" x 4 1/2", February 26, 2015.

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