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Brooklyn Bridge

Joseph Pennell

American Art

Having established himself in London as an etcher of urban architectural views, Joseph Pennell returned to the United States in 1917 and turned his attention to watercolors of New York subjects. This work is probably one of a series of twenty views titled Out of a Brooklyn Window that Pennell exhibited in the Brooklyn Museum’s 1921 watercolor exhibition. The manner in which Pennell constructed the composition of abbreviated areas of dark and light forms recalls the compositional methods of his English friend and mentor James McNeill Whistler.
MEDIUM Transparent and opaque watercolor and black chalk on gray-blue, moderately thick, rough and pitted-textured wove paper
  • Place Made: United States
  • DATES before 1921
    DIMENSIONS 13 5/8 x 10 1/16 in. (34.6 x 25.6 cm)  (show scale)
    SIGNATURE Signed lower right, in graphite: "Pennell"
    COLLECTIONS American Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1994.166
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Jerome B. and Renee Weinstein
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Joseph Pennell (American, 1860–1926). Brooklyn Bridge, before 1921. Transparent and opaque watercolor and black chalk on gray-blue, moderately thick, rough and pitted-textured wove paper, 13 5/8 x 10 1/16 in. (34.6 x 25.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Jerome B. and Renee Weinstein, 1994.166 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1994.166_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1994.166_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
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