Dual Precisionism

Abstract

“Precisionism” is a notoriously slippery word. This short article asks readers to think critically and expansively about the term. The essay suggests that Precisionism might be defined most aptly in a dual sense, as describing a set of works that favor mechanical subjects and bear stylistic affinities with products crafted by machines. Works by George Ault and Charles Sheeler, for example, suggest that the term characterizes not only hard-edged depictions of factories, machines, and machine parts, but also works that appear as though they could have been produced or improved by such apparatuses. This is especially the case with etchings by Armin Landeck and lithographs by Sheeler and Louis Lozowick. In these works, the printing press itself figures as one such machine facilitating the production of the clean lines, flattened forms, emphatic contours, and localized colors that the Precisionist artists sought.