{"data":{"id":"1209","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1209,"topgoose_id":609,"tms_id":1209,"display_name":"Charles Sheeler","sort_name":"Sheeler Charles","display_date":"1883–1965","begin_date":"1883","end_date":"1965","biography":"\u003cp\u003eCharles Sheeler was a leading exponent\nof the innovative modernist style that\narose after World War I in the United States\nand came to be known as Precisionism.\nArtists associated with the movement\nfused a planar geometry developed\nfrom European Cubism with an interest in\nuniquely American subjects, often\ncelebrating industry and a Machine Age\naesthetic. Sheeler worked across artistic\nmediums and developed a versatile,\ncomplex practice in which his vision was\nexpressed with equal artistic command\nand intellectual rigor, masterfully devising\ncompositions of modern, geometric\nform from America’s burgeoning urban\nand industrial landscapes.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1927, Sheeler was commissioned\nto photograph the Ford Motor Company’s\nmassive new automobile manufacturing\nfacility in Dearborn, Michigan, on the\nRouge River. Sheeler was fascinated by the\nmechanized totality of the environment,\nand his photographic images of the\nfacility’s machines and architecture became\njustly celebrated. This fascination persisted\nbeyond the photographic assignment,\nand in subsequent years he embarked on\na series of paintings and drawings based\non the complex. In the painting\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/1480\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eRiver\nRouge Plant\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, Sheeler focuses on the section\nof the facility that processed coal into\nfuel; in the foreground are a boat slip\nand the bows of two ships that carried the\ncoal. Sheeler captures the scene—its\nwhitewashed buildings depopulated and\nwaters motionless—with a lucidity\nand sereneness that confounds our\nexpectations of heavy industry. “It may be\ntrue,” he remarked, “that our factories\nare our substitute for religious expression.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":true,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500115325","wikidata_id":"Q624868","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:45:01.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-10T07:00:41.743-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1209/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1209/exhibitions"}}}}