Building the Bridge at Cologne 1914

Editor: So, here we have Joseph Pennell's "Building the Bridge at Cologne," created in 1914. It's a pencil drawing or print of a cityscape dominated by this massive bridge under construction. It feels incredibly industrial, almost like a scene from a dystopian future, and the cathedral looming in the background gives it a striking contrast. What leaps out at you when you look at this piece? Curator: Ah, Pennell. Always drawn to the grandeur of human endeavor, wasn't he? For me, it’s the tension between progress and permanence. That skeletal bridge, all girders and raw ambition, reaching towards a Gothic cathedral that has stood for centuries. I feel that Cologne Cathedral provides context; as though all these pieces can come together. But this was 1914 – a year before so much would change! What whispers does the piece give you on that background? Does it resonate with hope, perhaps mixed with some apprehension about where that progress might lead? Editor: Definitely apprehension. I see a world on the brink. All that industry focused on connecting things, but to what end? I can’t help but think about the war. Did Pennell have something like that in mind? Curator: Perhaps. He certainly documented the industrial landscape with both awe and a certain critical eye. This bridge represents human ingenuity and a relentless drive to build, and he would certainly have experienced both exhilaration and the unsettling hum of impending doom during this period. It makes me think—doesn't the best art always hold a mirror up to the contradictions within us? It builds bridges for discourse! Editor: It really does. I came in thinking "industry," but now I see it's much more about the mood of a time, the collision of past and future. Curator: Exactly! And sometimes, that collision sparks a fire that illuminates the present. It's those sparks we chase when we seek art, no?