To have
insight into the precisionist movement of painting, we must first understand
the styles which preceded and inspired it. We can draw parallels between the
Art-deco style, which defined popular style during the first half of the twentieth
century, and precisionism, notably the style of painting. Both Art-deco and
precisionism can be described as a combination of two previous styles: cubism
and futurism. Oddly enough cubism and futurism are fairly abstract in nature
whereas precisionist artists chose to take a realistic and familiar view of the
world to be their defining trait.
Precisionism
can be best defined as a hybrid of multiple styles from both the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. Like Cubism and Art-deco, precisionists used geometry
significantly in their works to display a view of life in the massive,
industrialized cities or rural farm towns of the United States, subject matter
which would be representative of realism. Consequently, the subject of
precisionist art often included architecture, machinery, and the working class
man. This last part is what sets Precisionism apart from Art-deco. Art-deco
style tried to glorify the extravagant and lavish lifestyle that became such a
treasured goal to people in the roaring twenties. The bright gold and scarlet
hues of Art-deco were exchanged for somber grays and blacks in Precisionist
works in order capture the world that formed the foundation of the country
instead of only the most high class byproducts of such a world. Cubism,
futurism, and many other art movements of the modernist movement were
considered to be Avant garde and the artists prided themselves on the fact that
their works were on the cutting edge of the break in tradition. What makes
Precisionism different from these movements is that innovation and social
commentary was not of priority to precisionists as they were to numerous other
artists of the time. Precisionism is an art that can be accurately classified
as one that was very informal. The artists shared little more than style and
subject matter, not even the political view on the subject. One artist could
have depicted industrialization as the beauty of human innovation just as
easily as another could show it as a danger to the environment and workers.
There were no such things as official guidelines or conventions in the world of
precisionism. In fact the artists of the movement did not even associate
themselves with each other and it wasn’t until the Museum of Modern Art grouped
them together did the movement became known as Precisionism, long after its
birth. The viewer of such pieces were led to not become too involved or attached
with the meaning or the art, but rather simply allowed to appreciate the aesthetic
of the scene. This is one of the reasons why people are rarely featured or
really even present in Precisionist art.
Precisionism
shows us a side of the modernist movement that seems to have become detached
from its sister movements and went off on its own tangent. The lack of
organization among artists of the movement relegated them to the backseat of
Modernism, but it is interesting to see the way that Precisionism contrasts so
deeply with other art styles despite borrowing heavily from them.
Works Cited
Murphy, Jessica “Precisionism” The Metropolitan Museum of
Art Website, June 2007
“The Precisionist Movement” The Art History Archive
“Precisionism” Encyclopædia Britannica March 3, 2015
Pictures
This is great! I had no idea about precisionism but the art is beautiful and really shows so many different perspectives.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting- I'm especially intrigued about the part where you state that social commentary was not a priority for precisionists- it's weird that a form of art that simply celebrates its aesthetic beauty has to be placed in its own category.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting- I'm especially intrigued about the part where you state that social commentary was not a priority for precisionists- it's weird that a form of art that simply celebrates its aesthetic beauty has to be placed in its own category.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how precisionism does not aim to make social commentary or to be innovative, as most forms of art focus on exactly that: being different and saying something about the world we currently live in.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how precisianism sounds very distinct, but as stated above is actually a mix of many different styles. It's an experimentation parallel to the modernism movement.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting to think of the precisionist movement as the foil to the art deco movement. Really enjoyed reading your blog and learning about this lesser known part of art history.
ReplyDelete