Loading Gantry for Pluto

Keith Henderson 1883 - 1982

Summary

Industrial landscape depicting a working scene focussing on the activities of the electrical wire and cable firm W.T. Glover and Co. of Trafford Park, Manchester. During the Second World War the company supplied cables for the government and the armed forces. This painting depicts a loading-gantry. It is the final stage of the creation of a lead pipe for operation Pluto. This operation ensured that petrol was supplied to allied forces across the English Channel via an underwater lead pipe. The viewer is positioned looking down on the factory site from the road outside, and there are two vans pulling trailers moving along the road. There is a site entrance to the right, with four men making their way to work. A large, green building inside the yard supports a long crane structure which runs along tall pylons in the background and extends across the road in the foreground. In the distant landscape cranes can be seen, and chimneys are also visible emitting black smoke. The painting is stylised with many soft-edged objects depicted and simple planes of colour, and is somewhat reminiscent of his illustrations.