Two Mechanics 1912

Wyndham Lewis made this drawing, Two Mechanics, with pencil and watercolour. Looking at this artwork, I imagine Lewis, caught up in the machine age, seeing human figures almost as part of the mechanics around them. I can feel the energy of the lines and the colour washes, as if Lewis found a harmony, or a discord, in the mechanics of modernity. The shapes seem to suggest figures, but they are broken into geometric forms, almost abstracted. The soft greys and browns feel industrial, like the grit and grime of the city. The sharp lines and angles give a sense of forward momentum, like gears turning or pistons firing. I keep wondering, what was he thinking about when he made it? About the relationship between humanity and machines? Lewis was part of a whole crew of artists reimagining the world. Like Leger, they looked at the urban environment as a space of dynamic forms. They were all in conversation with each other, trying to make sense of this strange new world.