1963.371
Brooklyn Bridge at Night
Artist
Joseph Pennell
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 7/4/1857 - 1926)
Title
Brooklyn Bridge at Night
Creation Date
1922
Century
20th century
Dimensions
7 3/8 in. x 8 7/8 in. (18.8 cm. x 22.6 cm.)
Object Type
print
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
aquatint on paper
Credit Line
Gift of Miss Susan Dwight Bliss
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
1963.371
Though born in Philadelphia, Joseph Pennell spent most of his artistic career based in London creating romantic illustrations of European cities. In 1921, Pennell returned to America and settled in Brooklyn Heights, where he lived until his death. Pennell believed in the unique aesthetic qualities of modern American cities, and his apartment afforded great views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York skyline. While Pennell’s print foregrounds the bridge as a dark, hazy, and ominous structure, it can also be understood as a longtime expatriate’s fond reflections on what makes American cities distinct: namely, its immense verticality, unorthodox geometry, sweeping expanse, and modern aesthetics.