“Bridges” is an online exhibition from Childs Gallery that features artwork from various artists depicting a stunning array of bridge landscapes and designs. “Though they serve a simple purpose of connecting places and people,” these artfully constructed bridges serve as marvels to the artists and are the perfect muses for those keen on how architecture can personify one’s art. If you’ve ever been awed by the sight of a bridge, grand or small, this exhibition is a wonderful escape that offers the viewer the chance to marvel just as the artists once did.
Ben Norris’ piece, “Firenze, Ponte Vecchio,” 1933, is an elaborately sketched piece of pencil on paper which effortlessly captures the essence of Florence, Italy’s segmental arch bridge, Ponte Vecchio. This bridge is known for housing shops in-between its arches, and Norris protrudes these shops in his piece with sloping lines more noticeable than the rest of the bridge, depicting the typical populated life this bridge embodies with its unique features. Norris’ brings an almost reminiscent feeling to the piece with its sketched style, leaving more to the viewer’s imagination.
Otto Bacher’s incredibly detailed “Rialto Bridge and Grand Canal, Venice,” 1880, etchingm expands only 4” x 9” but is teemed with life in every crevice. It is another piece in view of an Italian landscape that brings a more populated and moving landscape. From the civilians on the edges of the artwork going about their lives, to the man rowing the boat in the canal underneath the central bridge, Bacher’s eye catches life with hazy yet purposeful etching strokes.
Margaret Evelyn’s “Covered Bridge, Spring, Kansas,” c. 1940, brings a more abstract and colorful tone to the Bridges exhibition with her woodcut color print. Evelyn delivers a depiction of the only covered bridge left in the state of Kansas. The colors are muted, giving it a vintage appearance — something one might have seen in a postcard — and gives a beautiful impression of the surrounding scenery, down to the birch-like trees, the wooden panels painted red, worn over time, and the picturesque blue sky.
The “Bridges” exhibition officially ran until February 27, 2022 but continues to be open to the public for online viewing. Be sure to check out other artists presented — the likes of Andrew Fish, Fred Wagner, Dudley Vaill Talcott and more — in their displays of these timeless monuments.
(The Childs Gallery “Bridges: Online Exhibition” officially ran from January 26 through February 27, 2022, but can still be seen online at https://childsgallery.com/exhibition/bridges-online-exhibition/. Childs Gallery, located at 168 Newbury St., Boston, is currently exhibiting “Robert Freeman: America’s Past-time” through March 12 and “Souvenirs of the Grand Tour” through April 2.)