Lottery Wheel 1935 - 1942

This is James M. Lawson’s ‘Lottery Wheel’, made in 1943. He seems to have used a technical drawing pen on paper. This guy Lawson, he had a long life; born in 1855, died in 1995, he must have seen so much change, so much newness. I feel for him, making this drawing, trying to pin down a functional object, the lottery wheel, but also making something really quite beautiful in its simplicity. Look how the thin lines carefully delineate the form, the precise measurements hinting at a desire for accuracy and order. The wheel itself is so nicely rendered. It reminds me of the American precisionists and their cool observations of the world. You can imagine the clean lines of Charles Sheeler and Charles Demuth when looking at this. I wonder, was Lawson thinking about chance when he made this? Was it just a job? Whatever it was, it connects him to those other artists and to us, across time. What a thing!