The Industry – Richard Roland Holst (c. 1900-01) – Art Nouveau Canvas Print

Richard Roland Holst’s The Industry is a monumental celebration of physical labor and the workers who powered the industrial age. Four muscular laborers occupy a carefully structured industrial landscape, engaged in different stages of heavy work: hauling materials, breaking stone, stoking a furnace, and working beneath the machinery of a factory. At the center, a glowing furnace provides a dramatic focal point, its flames and sparks contrasting with the cool green structural framework and dark interior below.

The composition was created as a design for one of Roland Holst’s monumental murals in H. P. Berlage’s Amsterdam Stock Exchange, where The Industry was paired with The Trade. Roland Holst approached industrial labor not simply as documentary subject matter but as a symbol of collective human effort, giving the workers monumental, almost heroic forms. The strong horizontal divisions, simplified figures, earthy palette, and decorative treatment are characteristic of Dutch Symbolism and the country’s distinctive interpretation of Art Nouveau. The design also reflects Roland Holst’s increasingly socialist conception of art as something that could serve the community rather than exist solely as individual expression.

 

🖨️ Print features:

– Sustainable canvas stretched on radial pine frame

– Unique canvas coating for top-notch image quality

– Soft rubber dots on bottom back corners for support

– Safe latex inks for non-toxic printing

– Back hanging included

– Inner frame made with radiata pine sourced from renewable forests

– Please note: Due to the production process of the canvases, please allow for slight size deviations with a tolerance +/- 1/8″ (3.2mm)

– Care instructions: If the canvas does gather any dust, you may wipe it off gently with a clean, damp cloth.

 

🚚 Fulfillment, Shipping, and Return Policy:

– Printed and shipped from the U.S.

– As our items are unique and made to order, we can only accept a return or exchange in the event that an item arrives damaged or misprinted. We cannot accept returns if you order the wrong size or change your mind. Any return requests must be made within 14 days of receiving the order.

 

💬 Questions? Looking for something else, or want something in a different size? Feel free to reach out anytime; we’ll see what we can do!