New York's East River connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. Today this salt water tidal strait has been cleaned up and sports bike trails. In the 1940s there were numerous industries along the banks that belched smoke and polluted the water.
Many artists were fascinated by what "modernity" brought to the landscape, and were able to see the beauty, despite the beast. For this engraving, Landeck was inspired by the angles and the scale of this rather awkward looking construction, possibly a coal hopper. His use of the engraving burin allows Landeck to create a direct, precisionist, crisp composition, using just lines.