The factory by Eveline Syme 1933

The factory by Eveline Syme, 1933

This work is a linocut, printed in coloured inks, from four blocks, the printed image is 18.4 centimetres tall by 20.2 centimetres wide.

Observing the scene from a distance we see a single male figure in trousers at the bottom centre of the painting. He is walking purposefully along a pathway heading to the left and away from a factory. From this viewpoint we see the enormity of the factory which is situated in the centre of this work. The industry is busily operating beyond a pocket of trees and smaller grass-like vegetation found in the bottom left and right hand corners of the work.

On the left-hand side three large trees arch and bend inwards naturally framing the factory and continue rising up into the sky beyond and outside the picture plane drawing the eye towards three large chimneys beyond, which expel plumes of dense orange smoke. Hard straight lines construct a tall industrial building on the far left hand side of the artwork from which another large plume of orange smoke billows. The sun is setting and illuminates one side of the factory a golden orange hue and casts long shadows across the work from left to right from each of the trees.

During this time, massive technological changes were occurring in transportation, such as the increased use of air travel and ocean liners and the availability of affordable cars. Spowers and Syme found inspiration in the Australian industrial landscape as a symbol of the new age and progress with Syme proclaiming, ‘Is it too great a truism to repeat that the best art is always the child of its own age?’

The factory is displayed in a dark wooden frame with an off-white mat board and is signed in the bottom right-hand corner EW Syme and dated 1928. In the bottom left-hand corner, the work is titled The factory and editioned 3 of 25 in pencil.