Art Movements: Precisionism

Precisionism definition: what is Precisionism?

Precisionism was the first real indigenous modern art movement in the United States and contributed to the rise of American Modernism. Taking its cues from Cubism and Futurism, Precisionism was driven by a desire to bring structure back to art and celebrated the new American landscape of skyscrapers, bridges and factories. The Precisionists found inspiration in all different forms of American architecture in order to establish the structure underlying reality which they sought to depict. Precisionist artworks are characterised by their unexpected viewpoints and angles, a sharp focus, and dynamic compositions. For a period, Georgia O’Keeffe painted in the Precisionist style, depicting imposing cityscapes during her time in New York; and Edward Hopper is another famous name associated with Precisionism.

Key period: 1920s and 1930s
Key regions: United States
Key words: sharp focus, dynamic compositions, unexpected angles, architecture, industrialisation
Key artists: Charles Sheeler, Charles Demuth, Edward Hopper, Joseph Stella, Georgia O’Keeffe, George Ault, Preston Dickinson

Origins of Precisionism

Precisionism emerged after World War I and lived its peak during the 1920s and 1930s. The American architectural photographer Charles Sheeler was commissioned in 1927 to photograph the Ford Motor Company’s new industrial complex, which was built along the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan. Sheeler had travelled to Europe in the 1910s and had become familiar there with Cubism and other modernist developments.
Being both a photographer and a painter, after taking pictures of the Ford plant, he returned to the subject over and over in his painting in a series that combined Cubist motifs with elements associated with Futurism and Photorealism.
Sheeler’s sharp and accurate take on the modern world became known as Precisionism, and he was joined by like-minded contemporaries such as Charles Demuth. The artists were inspired by Cubism’s fragmentation, the experimental use of lighting and framing in photography, Synchronism’s colour harmony, and Futurism’s love of all things modern. Precisionism combined these influences in a crisp, clean style emphasising geometric form and celebrating science and industry as important parts of the American culture.

As phrased in the Phaidon publication Art in Time: “As the 1920s took shape, a group of North American painters responded to the expanding urban and industrial landscape around them with a style that combined the geometric scrutiny of Cubism with the exactness of photography. In Europe, the Futurists proclaimed the triumph of technology over nature, but in North America the artists similarly inclined to glorify the industrialised modern world were not formally organised and had no manifesto to bind their beliefs. Precisionism, a term coined in 1927 by Alfred H. Barr, director of the Museum of Modern Art, came to define their sharp, clean, imposing aesthetic.”

Key ideas behind Precisionism

Unlike Futurism, Precisionism was less about praising the glory of modern technology, accurately capturing the technology and architecture of the modern world instead – even if this meant depicting their less positive sides. Precisionism’s greatest strengths were in fact the ability to combine the utopian ideal of technology with the destructive, dehumanising effects it could have. The two attitudes could at times coexist within a single work of art, creating a powerful tension.   

Famous Precisionist Artists

Georgia O’Keeffe

Before Georgia O’Keeffe moved to New Mexico and became famous for her flower paintings and depictions of the incredible scenery in the southwest, she lived in New York and painted stunning cityscapes. Although O’Keeffe was never one to embrace labels, her imposing angles, composition and form certainly fit with the Precisionist ideals.

George Ault

With his Precisionist artworks, the troubled artist George Ault attempted to make order out of a chaotic world. Atmospheric and haunting, his paintings frequently show nocturnal urban and industrial scenes where it seems the form of the architecture has taken over completely. Devoid of any human presence, Ault’s masterful use of light and dark creates all the emotion in his paintings.

Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper is perhaps the most famous American artist when it comes to urban landscapes and architecture. With his depictions of lonely city-dwellers and empty streets and bars, he captured the particular mood and essence of America during the Depression-era and in the following decades. His paintings, though generally less crisp and sharp than those of other Precisionist artists, contain many of the ideas and approaches of Precisionism.