Precisionism An art style depicting the urban.

INTRODUCTION

• Precisionism (or Cubist Realism) is a style of representation in which an object is rendered in a realistic manner, but with an emphasis on its geometric form.

• Inspired by the development of Cubism in Europe, and by the rapid growth of industrialization of North America in the wake of innovators such as Henry Ford.

• In its emphasis on stylized angular forms it is also visually somewhat similar to Art Deco.

• Charles Demuth and Charles Sheeler are the artists most closely associated with Precisionism. The urban works of Georgia O'Keeffe are also highly typical of this style.

City paintings of Edward Hopper and Charles Sheeler

PRECISIONIST PAINTERS

• Charles Demuth 1883-1935

• Charles Sheeler 1883-1965

• Preston Dickinson 1891-1930

• Elsie Driggs 1898-1992

• Francis Criss 1901-1973

• Ralston Crawford 1906-1978

• Edmund Lewandowski 1914-1998

Charles Demuth

Charles Sheeler

Georgia O’Keffie

• This is a view of the Center Methodical Episcopal Church, built in 1860.

• Designed in the English Baroque style, inspired by Christopher Wren.

• Repeated diagonal ‘lines of force’ break the sky into fragments, and the rest of the city seems crystallized from multiple planes.

• Charles Demuth demonstrated with this painting, that he could apply his Precisionist style to more traditional subjects along with modern ones.

AFTER SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN,1920

• Rather than a traditional landscape scene, it depicts industrial architecture in Pennsylvania, the hometown of Demuth.

• Despite abstract use of lines and planes, subject is identifiable.

• Scene of rooftop machinery set against windows, belonging to an adjacent factory building.

• Was dedicated to his friend William Carlos Williams, who wrote ‘There is nothing sentimental about a machine’ and ‘A poem is but a small machine of words’.MACHINERY, 1920 ( CHARLES

DEMUTH)

WHITE CANADIAN BARN, 1932(GEORGIA O’KEEFFE)

• The barn, as the artist depicts it, is stark in colour and design, and precisely delineated.

• Picture space divided into 3 distinct parts; the sky, the building, the ground.

• Unintentionally three-dimensional look rendered to it due to the sombre colouring and massive size.

• The artist distilled essential geometric shapes from each architectural element in the painting.

VASE OF FLOWERS, 1926 (PRESTON DICKINSON)

• Dickinson frequently worked in still life.

• Skill at representing traditional ideas in more avant-garde ideas of perspective and composition

• Object is of an illusionistic nature, however the use of sharp edges for the table convey the artist’s yearning for newer means of representation.

• The ashtray with a cigarette on its rim is a surprisingly modern touch, in spite of the presence of classic still life objects

SOUTH OF SCRANTON, 1931(PETER BLUME)

• Though subjects tend to be mystifying and with a Surrealist bent, Blume’s technique possessed sharp clarity.

• The painting is an outcome of a road trip of the artist, whereby he travelled from New York through the coalfields of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem and finally South Carolina.

• The artist, in an attempt to weld the scenes and draw logical connections, explains that he felt all ties breaking loose. A moment when he felt the German sailors were objects free in space, like birds.

• Storrs was the son of a Chicago architect

• His sculpture would always be influenced by the native architecture of his city.

• Formal experiments with volume and space, balance of vertical and horizontal masses, play of light on polished surfaces

• Signal his interest in new architectural styles in accordance with the new urban zoning requirements

FORMS IN SPACE, 1927(JOHN STORRS)

WATER, 1945 (CHARLES SHEELER)

• Sheeler's experience as a photographer influenced his Precisionist style of painting, in which he emphasized the geometric shapes of objects in a hard-edged, clearly lit manner

• His interpretation of American industry was somewhat idealized: workers are never shown, and the machinery is pristine and gleaming, free of any dirt or smoke.

ROOFS AND SKY, 1939(LOUIS LOZOWICK)

• "From the innumerable choices which our complex and tradition-laden civilization presents to the artist, I have chosen one which seems to suit my training and temperament. I might characterize it thus: Industry harnessed by Man for the Benefit of Mankind.“

• The immediately recognizable New York City landmark of the Empire State Building is paired with the more generic forms of the water tower and smokestack in the foreground

• Bestows a heroic monumentality upon two completely utilitarian mechanical elements.

• A clamorous homage to William Carlos Williams' imagist poem about a fire truck is abstract and stylized

• Demuth structured his work around simplified forms—the red truck, the black high rises, the glowing white street lamps, and of course the brilliant gold 5s, three in full plus the curve of one

• What makes "Figure 5" distinctly American are the skyscrapers, the machinery, and the references to advertising.  THE FIGURE 5 IN GOLD (1928)

(CHARLES DEMUTH

Morton Schamberg, Telephone,1916

Joseph Stella, Brooklyn Bridge, 1919–1920

Charles Demuth, Incense of a New Church (1921)

Charles Sheeler, Skyscrapers (1922)

John Storrs, Profile Head with Cap, c. 1918, woodcut on paper Smithsonian American Art Museum

Stuart Davis, Steeple and Street, 1922

Stuart Davis, Lucky Strike, 1921

Charles Demuth, Chimney and Watertower, 1931

THANK YOU.

37 ZEUS PITHAWALLA 38 GARIMA RAJPUT

39 MANASVI RANE 40 RITHIKA RAVISHANKAR

41 SHIVALI SANAP 42 VISHAKHA SAVATKAR