Sketch for Machine Composition #2 was inspired by the view from the artist’s studio window. “I used to look in at a power house on 16th Street where I was living, to get the feeling of power house; and then made my own.” Fascinated by their functional beauty, Pereira made machines the central focus of her work in the 1930s. In this study for a painting, she presents devices that appear to have been taken apart and reassembled into a fantastic, abstract creation. Although she appreciated the potential of mechanization to transform society, this drawing has menacing overtones that suggest ambivalence.
Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009
Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009
- Title
-
Sketch for Machine Composition #2
- Artist
- Date
- ca. 1936
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- sheet: 17 1⁄2 x 22 5⁄8 in. (44.5 x 57.5 cm)
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- pencil and crayon on paper
- Classifications
- Keywords
-
- Fantasy
- Study
- Object Number
-
1986.92.73
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI
