The Gates of the City 1922

"The Gates of the City" is an etching by John Taylor Arms, and like many prints, its tones and values feel delicately balanced. I imagine Arms, bent over a metal plate, meticulously incising lines to build up this monumental bridge. It’s not just a picture, but a feat of engineering depicted through another kind of focused, almost obsessive labor. Look at the intricate web of lines defining the cables—each one precise, yet together creating this hazy, almost vibrating effect. Then there's the stone of the arches, rendered with a kind of loving detail that speaks to his fascination with Gothic architecture. And the title! A bridge as a gate—suggesting not just a crossing, but a passage into a new realm. You could almost feel the echoes of Piranesi, another master of architectural fantasy, in the way Arms transforms an industrial structure into something sublime and slightly dreamlike. It's a reminder that artists, whether etching, painting, or building bridges, are always in conversation, building on each other's visions.