Untitled (Night View of Brooklyn Bridge)
Artist
Joseph Stella
(American, 1877 - 1946)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1918
MediumOil on board
Dimensions11 3/4 x 18 5/8 in. (29.8 x 47.3 cm)
Overall, Frame: 19 1/2 × 26 1/2 × 1 3/4 in. (49.5 × 67.3 × 4.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 19 1/2 × 26 1/2 × 1 3/4 in. (49.5 × 67.3 × 4.4 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number89.53
Not on view
DescriptionThis is an oil on board painting. It is a small study of the Brooklyn Bridge from the vantage point of the ground, looking to the Bridge on the right. The top half of the painting shows diagonal lines, intersecting to form the steel cables. Dots of yellow and white signify lights. The lines, layered over eachother and in every direction, illustrate the movement and energy of the Bridge.Label TextJoseph Stella American, 1877–1946 Untitled (Night View of Brooklyn Bridge), c. 1918 Oil on board Joseph Stella presents the Brooklyn Bridge as a web of wires and electric lights against the night sky. This explosion of lines overwhelms his small canvas, suggesting the awe he likely felt when crossing from his home in Brooklyn to the studios and galleries of Manhattan. Completed in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge remained in Stella’s day a symbol of modernity, progress, and hope. The painter was fascinated with this wonder of engineering and created both dynamic studies like this work and large formal explorations of the bridge’s complex architectural geometry. Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 89.53 ProvenanceZabriske Gallery, New York; Rubin and Krueger Gallery, Newark, N.J.; Richard DeKoster, New York; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1989. Exhibition History"Joseph Stella," Zabriske Gallery, New York, N.Y., November 1960. (Exh. cat. no. 4) "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Icon of Modernism: Representing the Brooklyn Bridge, 1883–1950," Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA, September 17 - December 11, 2016.Published ReferencesDennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 206. Dennis R. Anderson, "American Collection Expands," Chrysler Museum _Bulletin_ 4 (April 1975): not paged. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 157, no. 98.
