Painting (formerly Machine) Artist: Morton Livingston Schamberg (American, 1881–1918)

1916

American Paintings and Sculpture

Not on view

Philadelphia-born Morton Livingston Schamberg's best-known paintings are based on machine parts, precisely rendered in flat shapes on monochromatic backgrounds. He titled these machinist works simply as Painting. The object depicted here is a binding machine, still commonly used in the printing industry. Like many artists in the New York avant-garde, Schamberg saw machinery as a powerful symbol of modern American culture.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

30 1/8 × 22 3/4 in. (76.5 × 57.8 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Collection Société Anonyme

Accession Number

1941.673

Geography

Possibly made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Culture

American

Period

20th century

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Bibliography
  • Debra Bricker Balken, John Storr: Machine-Age Modernisst, exh. cat. (Andover: Boston Athenaeum, 2010), 40, fig. Fig. 15
  • Debra Bricker Balken, John Storrs: Machine-Age Modernist, exh. cat. (Boston: Boston Athenaeum, 2010), 40, fig. Fig. 15
  • Emma Acker, Sue Canterbury, and Lauren Palmor, Cult of the Machine: Precisionism and American Art, exh. cat. (San Francisco: de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2008), 77, fig. 4
  • Ruth L. Bohan et al., The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America, ed. Jennifer Gross, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2006), 182, 204, ill
  • William C. Agee, Coming of Age, exh. cat. (New York: American Federation of Arts, 2006), 120, ill
  • Leah Dickerman et al., Dada: Zurich, Berlin, Hannover, Cologne, New York, Paris, exh. cat. (Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2005),
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

abstract (general art genre)

Subject

machines shapes

Signed

Signed l.l. "Schamberg 1916"

Technical metadata and APIs

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Open in Mirador

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