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Bridges in Art
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Bridges are found in art for many reasons, often reflecting the
ideas of an age.
We wouldn't normally class Giotto as a painter of bridges, but his
use of structures to frame parts of scenes, or to create scale, is
masterly. Well, it's just an excuse to mention his wonderful pictures,
such as the St Francis paintings in the church of San Francesco, Assisi.
In the Dream of Innocent III, the saint appears to be defending a building
against an earthquake. Unfortunately, the church of San Francesco was one
of many buildings in Assisi which were damaged by an earthquake near the
end of the 20th century.
Elegant arches appear in "The Annunciation" of 1437 by Fra
Angelico, beautifully painted to portray the subtleties of light and
shade.
"The Tempest" made by Giorgione in 1503, has a trestle bridge in
the background, which does a good job of dividing the near background from
the far background. In spite of strangeness of the picture, the bridge and
the other objects are given a realistic treatment that actually
contributes to the effect.
El Greco's "View of Toledo" doesn't even show the whole town.
Advice on photography often refers to "the rule of thirds", which really
means "Don't put the subject plumb in the middle". If you believe in
things like that, you can see a fortified bridge and a church spire in
perfect balance. You can also see how the road leads from bottom
left to top right, providing a rotational symmetry that is far from
static, to emphasise the turmoil of the dark storm. The symmetry is
also enhanced by the plants in the foreground, which reflect the movement
of the clouds. Like many a real storm, the darkness of this one
serves to bring out an unnatural brightness in the landscape. This
tremendous picture is full of movement.
In the 17th century "Claude le Lorrain" has a multi-arched bridge
in the background of "The Finding of Moses" of around 1638. Since
the entire scene, including the bridge, looks as if the artist might have
been painting a local scene, and not some place in Egypt, we have to
wonder whether the objects in the picture have symbolic significance, or
whether they just fill out the background.
In the 18th century we find Giovanni Canaletto including numerous
bridges in pictures of Venezia and London. Francesco Guardi depicts
an interesting foot-bridge in "Canale di Cannaregio".
In the Britain of the 19th century, the industrial revolution was
seen by some as a dramatic and a romantic era, and its larger structures
often figured in pictures.
On the other hand, they could form a part of the background to
idyllic or bucolic scenes, where they could be used to separate spaces or
form a frame.
Whistler's "Nocturne in Black and Gold", showing a part of
Battersea bridge over the river Thames by night, seems to have upset a
number of people, though it is wonderfully atmospheric. Another
atmospheric picture, also depicting fireworks and a bridge, is "Fireworks
over a bridge" by Hiroshige, from One Hundred Famous Views in Edo
(1856-1858). A large trestle bridge crosses the middle ground, combining
with the far bank of the river to create the composition. Both pictures
are linked below.
Although Hiroshige's humanity shines through all his pictures, he
was happy to include almost any type of object in his pictures, including
many bridges. This is almost inevitable, given the amount of water in
Japan's lowlands. The treatment is varied; one picture (Man on horseback
crossing a bridge) shows tired figures crossing a bridge in silhouette at
the end of the day: another (A sudden shower over Ohashi and Atake) shows
people caught out by heavy rain.
Hokusai may not have used bridges as often as Hiroshige, but he
used them to good effect. No wonder that artists like these were the cause
of a wave of "Japonisme" that swept through parts of Europe.
The classical Japanese gardens were works of art, often completely
artificial, yet cunningly planned to evoke nature. Many include streams
and lakes, providing opportunities to include bridges, often at just the
right places to see the best views. Flat wooden bridges might include
sudden changes of direction, or even of level, to hint at the "right"
places to stop and view the scene. These bridges were truly a part of huge
works of art, which were sometimes designed to include aspects of the
distant landscape (shakkei).
Some park bridges in England, like the parks themselves, often
follow a very different ideal. The bridges are sometimes known as
"Palladian". A good example is found at Wilton House in Wiltshire; others
are found at Prior Park and Stowe. The bridge in Blenheim Park, by
Vanbrugh, is a proper arch with a 100 foot span, in a completely different
tradition, more like a real utility bridge. Public parks like Pittville
Park in Cheltenham often include pleasant foot-bridges, some in masonry,
others in wood.
Mary Cassatt's "In the Omnibus" inlcudes a bridge across a wide
river in the background. This picture shows three people - a mother, a
baby, and the nurse who is the bridge between them. They are isolated, as
if no other people exist. They are indifferent to their surroundings,
which themselves are passive, and indeed the mother seems to be in a world
of her own. Only the nurse, attentive to the child, shows any sign of
activity.
As the 20th century merged into the 21st, Japan was still producing
beautiful bridges, some spans being among the longest in the world. Japan
is unusual in possessing some brightly coloured bridges. In France also,
you can see imaginative use of coloured bridges.
In the 20th century, when so many art "movements" and individual
styles sprang up, the number of ways of depicting structures is legion. On
the one hand we have "The Builders" of 1950, by Leger, we see a part of a
steel-framed building in bold colours and strong outlines. On the other
hand, in a picture by Paul Klee, we see a number of arches which seem to
have become bored with their jobs, and are wandering about all over the
place. Perhaps they are not unrelated to people doing identical,
monotonous, and repetitive jobs.
In "Barges on the Thames" of 1906, three bridges gave André Dérain
the chance to put in some strong shapes and to provide a sense of
depth.
Oskar Kokoschka's picture of Karluv Most, Praha is a well known
picture in which a bridge is actually the main subject. He also made
several pictures of London's Tower bridge.
Ben Nicholson did not include many actual bridges in his pictures,
but his fascination with architectural forms led to many pictures of
buildings with arches, from Rievaulx Abbey in the north, to Siena in the
south. Objects as small as humble jugs excited his interest just as much,
and he delighted in drawing their forms.
Jodi
Rose is creating a sonic sculpture
using recordings of the sounds of bridge cables around the
world.
For some late 20th century and early 21st century pictures by Anney
Bonney click here and click
on Shaded Bandwidth pictures. The download files are large. Shaded
Bandwidths is a new work which is related to Brooklyn bridge. Liz Phillips
is creating an interactive installation with sound and
movement. | 
