Classic Landscape 1931

Charles Sheeler made this painting, Classic Landscape, with oil on canvas. I am really drawn to the precision here. The smooth surfaces and sharp lines almost erase any trace of the artist's hand. But it’s the colour choices, the way the soft blues and browns play against the bright whites and oranges that really make this painting sing. I think this creates a fascinating tension between the mechanical subject matter, the smokestacks, train tracks and industrial buildings, and the way it’s rendered with such sensitivity. Look at how the light hits the cylindrical forms of the grain elevators, for example. Sheeler uses subtle gradations to give them volume, but also to flatten them into abstract shapes. It's almost like he's trying to find a balance between representation and pure form. Sheeler's work reminds me a little of the photography of the Bechers, who also documented industrial structures in a very systematic, almost detached way. Ultimately, it's that ambiguity and tension that makes this painting so compelling.