Machinery
Charles Demuth, 1920
Machinery is a 1920 drawing by the American artist Charles Demuth, a central figure of the Precisionist movement, whose work often focused on structures, machines and logos. The drawing shows a cyclone separator, a piece of industrial equipment standing in front of a factory wall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the artist's hometown. Demuth dedicated the work to his friend, the American poet William Carlos Williams. Its interest lies in the contrast between hard-edged lines, found in the background and the machine's body, and the more fluid, seemingly flexible tubing. Shadows cast by the separator add depth and a sense of roundness. Shades of gray on the metal set off the reds and browns of the wall, while a single touch of yellow leads the eye along the feeding tubes, which both tie the composition together and separate the darker windows from the lighter brick.
- Painter
- Charles Demuth
- Date
- 1920
- Dimensions
- 61 × 50 cm
- Museum
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
- Depicts
- machine, mechanical device, industry
