Brooklyn Bridge 1928

Vincent Canadè made this drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge with graphite on paper. Look at how he uses a limited range of grey tones to capture the monumentality of the bridge! It's a process of building up tones, hatching lines over and over to create a sense of depth and shadow. I'm struck by the texture of the water, a series of horizontal marks that give the impression of movement and reflection. The buildings in the background are simplified into geometric forms, cubes, and rectangles, which emphasize the density of the urban landscape. Notice the little boat in the foreground. Its smokestack is so charming! It gives a sense of scale and human activity to the scene. And those figures in the lower portion of the drawing really bring the image to life. Canadè's choice to depict the bridge from this unusual angle, from the water looking up, reminds me of the work of the German Expressionist Lyonel Feininger. Like Feininger, Canadè finds a way to transform an everyday scene into something dramatic and evocative. Art is all about seeing the world in new and unexpected ways, isn't it?