Date: Fri 25-Sep-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Here

Full Text:

Getting From Here To There

w/cuts

YONKERS, N.Y. -- Through their transformation of familiar and natural

landscapes, bridges have served as defining icons and sources of inspiration

for generations of painters, draftsmen and photographers.

"Getting From Here To There," which runs through January 24 at The Hudson

River Museum in Yonkers, N.Y., tells the story of 11 area bridges from their

planning and construction to their interpretation by leading American artists.

Featuring over 75 works, dating from 1940 to the present, this presentation

includes paintings, lithographs, ink, pencil, and charcoal drawings,

watercolors, and prints and photographs of bridges in the New York

metropolitan area. The exhibition is cosponsored by Thalle Construction

Company, Inc, and Yonkers Contracting Co, Inc. The exhibition was organized by

a curatorial team at the museum.

The bridges featured are : Bear Mountain, Bronx-Whitestone, Brooklyn, Corton

Reservoir, George Washington, Henry Hudson, Hell Gate, High Birdge,

Poughkeepsie Railroad, Queensboro, and Tappan Zee. Among the artists who

recorded and interpreted these bridges are Bernice Abbott, Elsie Driggs,

Childe Hassam, Ernest Lawson, Charles Sheeler, and Edward Steichen. The

depiction and interpretation of bridges by artists are central to the

exhibit's theme and organization.

As a new motif, a formal device, a commentary on modern life, a celebration of

new technology, or a romanticized longing for the past, American artists have

been drawn to these structures since the mid-Nineteenth Century when High

Bridge was built to carry the fresh waters of the Croton Aqueduct into New

York City.

The show explores bridges through the trends of American Impressionism in

Childe Hasaam's poetic "Brooklyn Bridge in Winter" and Reynold Beal's colorful

"Poughkeepsie Railroad." Other versions of bridges include Elsie Driggs'

precisionist oil "Queensboro Bridge" and both Yvonne Jacquette's and Richard

Haas' contemporary visions of the Brooklyn Bridge. Photographer Berenice

Abbott captured the changing face of New York in the 1930s with her critically

acclaimed bridge photographs, such as "Queensboro Bridge II (from Long Island

City)," and "Hell Gate Bridge I (from Astoria)." Also included are numerous

photographs from local resources including the Westchester County Archives,

the Westchester County Historical Society, the Historical Society of

Tarrytown, and the MTA Bridges and Tunnels Archive.

"Getting From Here To There" includes historical documents and ephemera

ranging from construction plans and photographs, the original posts and rails

from the pedestrian walkway over the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, color

postcard sets, and period tourist maps. Other components include video

presentations on the George Washington and Poughkeepsie Railroad bridges as

well as five interactive stations where children and families can build their

own bridges based on different engineering and architectural principles.

As a complement to the exhibition, the museum is featuring 40 original

illustrations by Lynd Ward from the beloved children's story, The Little Red

Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, written by Hildegarde H. Swift. This

exhibition, "The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, " is open

through January 24.