Study for "The Well" 1916

Morton Schamberg made this small pencil drawing, Study for "The Well," a century ago. The simple graphite marks here feel methodical, like the careful planning of an architect. Schamberg renders a mechanical object, maybe a water pump, and you can see him thinking and rethinking as he goes. A dark line sits next to a lighter one; the same object is drawn twice, not perfectly aligned. It’s a little clumsy, a little uncertain, but also precise. I wonder, was Schamberg looking at Duchamp's readymades and playing with ideas of mechanical reproduction? Did he find beauty in the mundane? You sense Schamberg’s curiosity, his impulse to translate a cold, manufactured object into something softer and more human. The conversation between artists is always so interesting to me. They pick up where others leave off, responding to each other across time.