Building The Bay Bridge 1936

Otis Oldfield made this image of Building the Bay Bridge as a print, probably around the time that it was being built. Look at how he uses graphite to define these huge cylindrical volumes, like he’s wrapping the marks around the forms. It’s a structural way of drawing, that's for sure. I’m really drawn to the cluster of tiny figures in the middle ground, they’re rendered with such loose, scribbly marks, it's almost like they are dissolving into the scene, or emerging from it. The ladder in the background is the only perfectly vertical thing in the whole composition. There’s a graphic quality to this print that reminds me of the German Expressionist printmakers like Lyonel Feininger, but Oldfield brings an American sensibility to this - a kind of celebration of engineering and industry. Ultimately, it’s about a vision, an idea of progress, and the way humans build their world.