It is only comparatively primitive machinery that affords a stimulus, and there is already a faint period touch about Pacific 231 and Le Pas d'Acier. One feels:that Prokofieff should have written ballets about the spinning jenny and the Luddite riots; that Honegger should have been there to celebrate the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the death of Huskisson with a 'Symphonie Triomphale et Funebre'.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Mechanization stimulates art only in its primitive stages; advanced industrial machinery feels artificial to modern audiences.
- In plain terms
- Early machines inspired art, but complex ones like trains feel less genuine now.
- What can you take from it?
- Artistic inspiration from industry fades as technology matures.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does technology age in art?
- Why do industrial themes lose freshness?
Another view
The author assumes a specific modern perspective on machinery that may not apply to all audiences.
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