Brooklyn Bridge
Since the early twentieth century, John Marin has been considered an important member of the group of modern artists — including Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Marsden Hartley — who were associated with Alfred Stieglitz and his New York galleries. Although Marin had dabbled in art since childhood and went to work in an architect's office, he did not become a serious artist until he met Stieglitz in 1909, when Marin was almost forty years old. His fame was established early on as one of America's premier watercolorists, and his preferred subject was landscape. Most of his landscapes were done in Maine during the summer; the rest of the year the artist lived in Cliffside, New Jersey, and made frequent trips to New York City.
Brooklyn Bridge, dating about 1912, is of the period of Marin's first truly personal expression. Brightly, wittily, it communicates his sense of the excitement of urban life. In conjunction with one of his Photo-Secession shows, he wrote in "Camera Work" about his New York watercolors: "Shall we consider the life of a great city as confined simply to the people and animals on its streets and in its buildings? Are the buildings themselves dead? . . . I see great forces at work: great movements; the large buildings and the small buildings; the warring of the great and the small; influences of one mass on another greater or smaller mass. Feelings are aroused which give me the desire to express the reaction of these 'pull forces,' those influences which play with one another; great masses pulling smaller masses, each subject in some degree to the other's power. . . . While these powers are at work pushing, pulling, sideways, downwards, upwards, I can hear the sound of their strife and there is great music being played. And so I try to express graphically what a great city is doing. Within the frames there must be a balance, a controlling of these warring, pushing, pulling forces."
Brooklyn Bridge, dating about 1912, is of the period of Marin's first truly personal expression. Brightly, wittily, it communicates his sense of the excitement of urban life. In conjunction with one of his Photo-Secession shows, he wrote in "Camera Work" about his New York watercolors: "Shall we consider the life of a great city as confined simply to the people and animals on its streets and in its buildings? Are the buildings themselves dead? . . . I see great forces at work: great movements; the large buildings and the small buildings; the warring of the great and the small; influences of one mass on another greater or smaller mass. Feelings are aroused which give me the desire to express the reaction of these 'pull forces,' those influences which play with one another; great masses pulling smaller masses, each subject in some degree to the other's power. . . . While these powers are at work pushing, pulling, sideways, downwards, upwards, I can hear the sound of their strife and there is great music being played. And so I try to express graphically what a great city is doing. Within the frames there must be a balance, a controlling of these warring, pushing, pulling forces."
Artwork Details
- Title: Brooklyn Bridge
- Artist: John Marin (American, Rutherford, New Jersey 1870–1953 Cape Split, Maine)
- Date: ca. 1912
- Medium: Watercolor and charcoal on paper
- Dimensions: 18 9/16 × 15 5/8 in. (47.2 × 39.7 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949
- Object Number: 49.70.105
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
Audio
2008. Brooklyn Bridge
0:00
0:00
We're sorry, the transcript for this audio track is not available at this time. Please email info@metmuseum.org to request a transcript for this track.
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
John Marin
1910
John Marin
Ernest Haskell
1907
John Marin
1907
John Marin
1907
John Marin
1906
Related Content
Publications
Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.