High Bridge, Harlem River

The light colors and delicate brushwork in this painting, as well as its heavily tactile surface, soften and beautify a modern industrial scene. Lawson’s large landscape, both industrial and residential, represents a view across the Harlem River at 175th Street and Tenth Avenue between the boroughs of the Bronx and Manhattan.

Unlike the rest of his colleagues in The Eight—the group of artists also dubbed The Ashcan School by critics—Ernest Lawson focused on landscape rather than on people. In addition, his interests embraced both the urban, modern city, such as this painting, as well as more rural areas.