The Bridge, Blackwell’s Island
George Bellows1909
The Toledo Museum of Art
Toledo, United States
The Queensboro Bridge in New York (also known as the 59th Street Bridge) links Manhattan with Queens, spanning the East River. Midway, the massive piers rest on Blackwell’s Island (now called Roosevelt Island). Painted from the Manhattan side, the painting shows an unlovely vista of drab factories and docks. However, using vibrant colors, thick application of paint, and bold slashes of the brush, George Bellows gives the scene an energy that conveys the excitement of life in the modern American city.
By cropping the bridge off at the top, Bellows emphasizes its towering presence. The family of onlookers gazing in wonder at the newly opened double-decker bridge underscores its engineering feat—at the time, the greatest cantilever bridge in the world. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Bellows studied in New York with “Ash Can School” artists Robert Henri and John Sloan (see Movies nearby).
- Title: The Bridge, Blackwell’s Island
- Creator: George Wesley Bellows
- Creator Lifespan: 1882 - 1925
- Creator Nationality: American
- Creator Gender: male
- Date Created: 1909
- Physical Location: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
- Location Created: North America
- Physical Dimensions: Frame: 46 × 56 × 4 in. (116.8 × 142.2 × 10.2 cm)
- Subject Keywords: cityscape; landscape; architecture; river; boat; buildings; figures; family; man; woman; child; bridge
- Type: Painting
- Rights: https://toledomuseum.org/collection/image-resources
- External Link: Toledo Museum of Art
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Depicted Location: The Queensboro Bridge in New York
- Fun Fact: The Queensboro Bridge in New York (also known as the 59th Street Bridge) links Manhattan with Queens, spanning the East River. Midway, the massive piers rest on Blackwell's Island (now called Roosevelt Island). Painted from the Manhattan side in December 1909, shortly after completion of the bridge, the canvas reflects the spirit and energy of urban life. The tugboat fighting the strong current, the gritty cityscape in the distance, and the small group of engrossed onlookers are all overshadowed by the engineering feat—at the time, the greatest cantilever bridge in the world. New York was expanding rapidly at this time and, as a modern city, generated considerable visual and physical excitement. Its urbanism and new technology enthralled Bellows, who in this painting celebrated the achievements of modern construction. Bellows's use of bold colors and expressive, broad brushwork with thick dabs of pigment also serves to enhance the feeling of exuberance. Although Bellows championed life in the city as embodying progress and Modernism, his artistic style is more a fresh and vigorous mastery of an American realist tradition than a bold innovation. Never having been abroad to witness and adopt the new artistic trends of Europe, Bellows instead identified with a group of contemporary American realist artists. Many of these artists—often called the Ash Can School because their unconventional subject matter typically dealt with the grimy, unlovely aspects of American urban life—had begun their careers as journalists, producing illustrations for Philadelphia and New York newspapers. Their social consciousness and their adaptation of the spirited brushwork of such European masters as Frans Hals, Diego Velázquez, and Edouard Manet (see 1925.108) are reflected in Bellows's own vigorous style and themes—portraits, the boxing ring, the waterfront, and the New York City streets.
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