I Saw

1915

Francis Picabia cooked up this wild mechanical diagram in 1915 during his New York exile, creating what looks like a blueprint for a bizarre invention. A corset—standing in for a woman—is connected via wires to bells, pipes, and a red industrial box, creating a satirical 'love machine.' The text screams 'DE ZAYAS! DE ZAYAS!', a loud tribute to his friend Marius de Zayas, a Mexican artist who helped Picabia navigate the New York art scene. This piece is a classic example of his 'mechanomorph' period, where he used cold, hard machine parts to mock human emotions, essentially suggesting that romance is just a bunch of gears and pulleys grinding away.

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