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George Washington Bridge, New York
George Washington Bridge, New York

George Washington Bridge, New York

Artist Edward Steichen (American, born Luxembourg, 1879 - 1973)
Date1931
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 13 7/16 × 10 11/16 inches (34.13 × 27.15 cm)
Sheet: 13 7/8 × 10 7/8 inches (35.24 × 27.62 cm)
Mount: 21 7/8 × 18 1/2 inches (55.56 × 46.99 cm)
Mat (detached): 21 7/8 × 18 1/2 inches (55.56 × 46.99 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.2191
SignedSigned and dated on mount verso, center, in pencil: "Edward Steichen / 1931"
InscribedOn sheet verso, upper left, in pencil: "george Washington Bridge 1931"; On sheet verso, upper right, in pencil: "B2 / 2M / F11 / Vetova, [?]".
MarkingsOn mat verso, upper left, in pencil: "1-11-69"; On mat verso, central left, in pencil: "8847 / 7 [circled] / (+mat)".
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionImage of a suspension bridge (George Washington Bridge) from the perspective of someone standing underneath one of the structure's towers looking up.Exhibition History
Masters of 20th-Century Photography from the Hallmark Collection. Waterloo Municipal Galleries, Waterloo, IA, May 2 - June 13, 1982, no cat.

Cityscapes: 20th Century Urban Images from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. First Street Forum, St. Louis, MO, April 13-May 20, 1984, no cat.

Rotation 8. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 12 – October 11, 2010, no cat.

Gallery Label
Edward Steichen's creative interests were not confined to the studio in the 1920s and 1930s. This work is from a larger series of views of the then-new George Washington Bridge. From the moment of its completion, this span over the Hudson River became a powerful symbol of the machine-age aesthetic. Originally designed  to be clad in stone, the compelling beauty of the sleek steel towers prodded a change in design, ensuring that the structure was finished in its pristinely unadorned, purely functional, form. Steichen (and other photographers) responded appropriately, recording the soaring structure as, in essence, a kind of sublime, avant-garde sculpture. 
Provenance
Purchased from the artist by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1969;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
Published References

Edward Steichen, A Life in Photography (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1963), 216 (repro).

Copyright© The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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