Sketch for Machine Composition #2

I. Rice Pereira, Sketch for Machine Composition #2, ca. 1936, pencil and crayon on paper, sheet: 17 ¹⁄₂ x 22 ⁵⁄₈ in. (44.5 x 57.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost, 1986.92.73

Artwork Details

Title: Sketch for Machine Composition #2
Artist: I. Rice Pereira
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: Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost
Mediums: pencil
crayon
Mediums Description: pencil and crayon on paper
Classifications: Drawing
Subjects: Architecture — machine
Study
Fantasy
Object Number: 1986.92.73
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.92.73

Artwork Description

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