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Men at Work: Photographic Studies of Modern Men and Machines
I will take you into the heart of modern industry where machines and skyscrapers are being made, where the character of the men is being put into the motors, the airplanes, the dynamos upon which the life and happiness of millions of us depend.
Lewis H. Hine (1874-1940), one of America’s best photographers, wrote this in his introduction to Men at Work, a book, he said, about “men of courage, skill, daring, and imagination.” And in 69 attention-riveting photographs, including those of the construction of the Empire State Building, he makes us believe once again in the heroism of ordinary people.
Originally published in 1932, and now exceedingly rare, Men at Work takes us into coal mines, heavy industry, and tire and airplane factories. We see railroad workers in the shop, on the tracks and as train crews. Foundation men, connecters, bellmen, hoisters, derrick men, plumbers-up, riveters, buckers-up, catchers, burners, heaters, welders, bolt boys, sky boys — the various trades of construction workers — build from bedrock that great monument and symbol of twentieth-century life, the Empire State Building. For this edition 18 additional and extraordinary Hine photographs of this construction have been added.
Hine, widely known for his pictures of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and his studies of child labor, combines enormous technical ability with sensitivity and deep feeling. The people in this book do their job with pride, dignity, and skill. They are in control of the giant machines they use, at home in space, not dwarfed by their constructions.
Lewis H. Hine (1874-1940), one of America’s best photographers, wrote this in his introduction to Men at Work, a book, he said, about “men of courage, skill, daring, and imagination.” And in 69 attention-riveting photographs, including those of the construction of the Empire State Building, he makes us believe once again in the heroism of ordinary people.
Originally published in 1932, and now exceedingly rare, Men at Work takes us into coal mines, heavy industry, and tire and airplane factories. We see railroad workers in the shop, on the tracks and as train crews. Foundation men, connecters, bellmen, hoisters, derrick men, plumbers-up, riveters, buckers-up, catchers, burners, heaters, welders, bolt boys, sky boys — the various trades of construction workers — build from bedrock that great monument and symbol of twentieth-century life, the Empire State Building. For this edition 18 additional and extraordinary Hine photographs of this construction have been added.
Hine, widely known for his pictures of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and his studies of child labor, combines enormous technical ability with sensitivity and deep feeling. The people in this book do their job with pride, dignity, and skill. They are in control of the giant machines they use, at home in space, not dwarfed by their constructions.
- GenresPhotographyHistory
80 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1977
1 person is currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Lewis Wickes Hine
26 books7 followersLewis Hine studied sociology at the University of Chicago, Columbia University and New York University. He became a teacher in New York City at the Ethical Culture School, where he encouraged his students to use photography as an educational medium.
In 1907, he became the staff photographer of the Russell Sage Foundation; he photographed life in the steel-making districts and people of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the influential sociological study called The Pittsburgh Survey.
In 1908, he became the photographer for the National Child Labour Committee (NCLC), leaving his teaching position. Over the next decade, he documented child labour, with focus on the use of child labour in the Carolina Piedmont, to aid the NCLC's lobbying efforts to end the practice. In 1913, he documented child laborers among cotton mill workers with a series of Francis Galton's composite portraits.
During and after World War I, he photographed American Red Cross relief work in Europe. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he made a series of "work portraits," which emphasized the human contribution to modern industry. In 1930, he was commissioned to document the construction of the Empire State Building. He photographed the workers in precarious positions while they secured the steel framework of the structure, taking many of the same risks that the workers endured. To obtain the best vantage points, he was swung out in a specially-designed basket 1,000ft above Fifth Avenue. At times, he remembered, he hung above the city with nothing below but "a sheer drop of nearly a quarter-mile."
During the Great Depression he again worked for the Red Cross, photographing drought relief in the American South, and for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), documenting life in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. He also served as chief photographer for the Works Progress Administration's National Research Project, which studied changes in industry and their effect on employment. He was also a faculty member of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.
In 1936, Hine was selected as the photographer for the National Research Project of the Works Projects Administration, but his work there was not completed.
The last years of his life were filled with professional struggles by loss of government and corporate patronage. He hoped to join the Farm Security Administration photography project, but despite writing repeatedly to Roy Stryker, Stryker always refused. Few people were interested in his work, past or present, and Hine lost his house and applied for welfare. He died on November 3, 1940, at Dobbs Ferry Hospital in Dobbs Ferry, New York, after an operation. He was 66 years old.
In 1907, he became the staff photographer of the Russell Sage Foundation; he photographed life in the steel-making districts and people of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the influential sociological study called The Pittsburgh Survey.
In 1908, he became the photographer for the National Child Labour Committee (NCLC), leaving his teaching position. Over the next decade, he documented child labour, with focus on the use of child labour in the Carolina Piedmont, to aid the NCLC's lobbying efforts to end the practice. In 1913, he documented child laborers among cotton mill workers with a series of Francis Galton's composite portraits.
During and after World War I, he photographed American Red Cross relief work in Europe. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he made a series of "work portraits," which emphasized the human contribution to modern industry. In 1930, he was commissioned to document the construction of the Empire State Building. He photographed the workers in precarious positions while they secured the steel framework of the structure, taking many of the same risks that the workers endured. To obtain the best vantage points, he was swung out in a specially-designed basket 1,000ft above Fifth Avenue. At times, he remembered, he hung above the city with nothing below but "a sheer drop of nearly a quarter-mile."
During the Great Depression he again worked for the Red Cross, photographing drought relief in the American South, and for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), documenting life in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. He also served as chief photographer for the Works Progress Administration's National Research Project, which studied changes in industry and their effect on employment. He was also a faculty member of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.
In 1936, Hine was selected as the photographer for the National Research Project of the Works Projects Administration, but his work there was not completed.
The last years of his life were filled with professional struggles by loss of government and corporate patronage. He hoped to join the Farm Security Administration photography project, but despite writing repeatedly to Roy Stryker, Stryker always refused. Few people were interested in his work, past or present, and Hine lost his house and applied for welfare. He died on November 3, 1940, at Dobbs Ferry Hospital in Dobbs Ferry, New York, after an operation. He was 66 years old.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 6, 2024
A 1930s photographic essay showing men around machines, tools, and work sites, mainly skyscrapers, railroads, and a couple from the airplane industry.
January 14, 2014
Lewis Hine was the official photographer documenting the construction of the Empire State Building. Several of his Empire State Building photographs appear here, along with photographs depicting factory work throughout the United States. Hine's portraits are arguably some of the best of this genre in the 1930s.
September 17, 2016
Useful if you're interested in either black and white historical photography or American workwear!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews