Cancelling Machine c. 1938

Samuel Fineman made this drawing, Cancelling Machine, with graphite and watercolor. I love the light touch and warm palette, which reminds me of early technical illustration. Fineman seems to be revealing the process of how things are made, or come to be. The piece has an appealing, straightforward quality. I particularly enjoy how he rendered the wooden handle. The grain of the wood is shown with a loving attention to detail, and a kind of knowing that only comes from looking at things closely. It’s tempting to see this machine as a metaphor for art itself, as a method of taking something and transforming it into something else entirely. The final question that remains is if Fineman was at all influenced by the works of Duchamp and his readymades?