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Preview image of work. aquatint on paper,  Brooklyn Bridge at Night 5505
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1963.371

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Brooklyn Bridge at Night

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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.