The Bridge

Albert Pinkham Ryder

ca. 1880 · Oil on gilt leather · The American Wing

"The Bridge," done on gilded leather, shares the horizontal format and the thin paint application of "The Smuggler's Cove" (09.58.2). This panoramic landscape has been said to combine fragments of New York scenery that Ryder would have known: a bit of the skyline as seen from Central Park, and High Bridge, which spans the Harlem River. Despite these possible references to specific sites, "The Bridge" is still imaginative rather than literal. Its detachment from the appearance of nature looks forward to a modernist approach to picture making.

Artist

Albert Pinkham Ryder

Date

ca. 1880

Medium

Oil on gilt leather

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of George A. Hearn, 1909