They mainly chose large cities, industrial complexes and other technical installations as motifs. Because they worked with precise geometric shapes and perfect colour gradients without impurities, they were also called Sterilists (Sterilists) and Immaculates (the Immaculate). The depictions testify to a growing self-confidence in American industrial society as well as a certain admiration for their buildings, but social commentary (unlike in the Ashcan School) was not a central element of Precisionism.