Peter Blume

The Bridge

In 1912, artist Peter Blume immigrated to Brooklyn from Russia. Two years prior to painting this work, Blume moved into a studio that overlooked the Queensboro Bridge. There, he became witness to a transforming urban landscape. At the time of its opening, the Queensboro Bridge was the longest to exist in the United States. Parallel to this rapid urbanization, American artists began to use muted colors, hard lines, and angular shapes in their artworks. This style, known as Precisionism, mirrored the type of American modernity and industrial advancement that the Queensboro Bridge came to represent itself.