Object in Space

Josef Ehm aimed to produce work that emphasized the strength and beauty of 20th-century technologies. His circle included other Czech master photographers like Jaroslav Rossler and Eugen Wiskovsky and progressive authors such as Karel Teige. Teige’s words, in fact, seem to best express Ehm’s particular approach to art: “Photography’s beauty is the same as the beauty of an airplane or transatlantic ship or electric light bulb: it is the work of the machine and of the human hand, the mind, and heart.” In Object in Space, the industrial power of the locomotive assembly plant is matched by the beautiful, carefully composed forms and soft, natural light.