Joseph Stella, The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme, 1939Back in 1983 I was working in downtown Manhattan, just a couple of blocks away from the Brooklyn Bridge. That year the Bridge celebrated its centennial, and there was a big festival including the most spectacular fireworks show I've ever seen, before or since. The bridge is one of the defining symbols of the Big Apple, a fact that multiple artists have recognized in depicting their vision of the city. Stella's version, of which there are several variations, really hammers home how sacred an icon it is, employing a pseudo-stained glass design suggestive of a church. It's harder to say just what church he aims to evoke, as the options seem almost endless: a church of commerce, a church of mobility, a church of technology, a church of unity, a church of progress... etc., etc. In the end one doesn't really have to make a distinction between all of these, as the bridge is sturdy enough to support all those equally valid interpretations, while Stella's work also reminds us of its graceful aesthetic beauty-- maybe the church of art ought to go to the top of the list.
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