Fire Bridge
Artist
Robert Indiana
(American, 1928 - 2018)
CultureAmerican
Date1964-65
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 48 x 48 in. (121.9 x 121.9 cm)
InscribedStenciled on reverse:;
ROBERT INDIANA;
THE FIRE BRIDGE;
COENTIES SLIP #75103;
NEW YORK CITY 1964-5
Credit LineGift of Jean Outland Chrysler
Object number75.103
Collections
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 115-2 - Wonderstudio
Label TextRobert Indiana American, b. 1928 Fire Bridge, 1964–65 Oil on canvas Robert Indiana’s work recalls a barge fire he saw outside his window on the East River. The artist combined the vivid spectacle with well-known depictions of the Brooklyn Bridge by the artist Joseph Stella. Can you pick out the bridge’s gothic archways and suspended cables? While the sweeping lines and dynamic blocks of color refer both to dramatic real-life events and to earlier artworks, Indiana’s flat, mechanical technique also suggests the color reproductions found in art books and advertising logos. As such, the work deliberately mixes the worlds of art, commerce, and daily experience. Gift of Jean Outland Chrysler 75.103 ProvenanceStable Gallery, Jeanne and Max Wasserman, Boston; Richard deKoster, New York [Sotheby Parke Bernet, Los Angeles, Important Modern and Contemporary Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, February 3, 1975, lot 55]; Walter P. Chrysler (1975); Gift of Jean Outland Chrysler to The Chrysler Museum Of Art, Norfolk, Virginia (1975) Exhibition History"Art in Progress," Finch College Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., opened February 25, 1965. (Exh. cat. no. 8) "Contemporary Art USA," Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Norfolk, Va., March 18 - April 10, 1966. (Exh. cat. no. 27) "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Robert Indiana Retrospective," University of Texas, Austin, Tex., September 25 - November 7, 1977; Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., December 1, 1977 - January 15, 1978; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Ind., February 21 - April 2; Art Center, South Bend, Ind., June 2 - July 16, 1978. "The Great East River Bridge," The Brooklyn Museum, N.Y., March 19 - June 19, 1983. "The Common Wealth: American Masterpieces from Virginia Collections," Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, Va., December 1, 1990 - February 3, 1991. Selections from the Permanent Collection, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Feb 1998-Mar 2000; Jun 2004-March 2005; Aug 2005-2008; Nov 2009-Dec 2011; Apr 2014 - Dec 2015; Jan 2016 - Oct 2017. Wonderstudio, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia July 22, 2021- present Published ReferencesPrepared by Elayne H. Varian with statements by the artists, _Art in Process: The Visual Development of a Painting_, exh. cat., Finch College Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., 1965, no. 8. Foreward by Foy C. Casper, Jr., _Contemporary Art USA_, exh. cat., Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Norfolk, Va., 1966, no. 27. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 243. Donald B. Goodall, et al., _Robert Indiana_, exh. cat., University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin, 1977, 57, no. 20. Thomas W. Styron, "Indiana Retrospective on View," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk _Bulletin_ 6, no. 12 (December 1977): cover. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_ (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 113. ISBN: 0-940744-37-6 Ruth Stevens Appelhof, _The Common Wealth_, exh. cat., Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, Va., 1990, 32. Susan Elizabeth Ryan, _Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech_ (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000), 140. ISBN: 0300079575 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), 242-243, no. 148. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 82, fig. 96. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1
