Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Museum photograph
About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.
This iconic image of the Brooklyn Bridge takes an unusual, modernist approach, showing only a small section of the structure. With this radical framing, Arthur Leipzig emphasizes the bridge’s impressive architecture, monumental proportions, and majestic design. The perspective, with myriad lines converging toward a single focal point in the distance, gives the image a vertiginous, spiderweb-like nature.
Leipzig, a Brooklyn-born photographer, became well-known for his humanistic documentary work. He made this photograph soon after he took up photography in 1941. While at first glance the image seems devoid of people, two workers can be seen looking down at Leipzig from far above. By capturing the hard labor of those working on this legendary landmark, the photographer embodies the vitality of postwar Brooklyn.
Caption
Arthur Leipzig American, 1918–2014. Brooklyn Bridge, 1946. Gelatin silver print, sheet: 13 11/16 × 13 1/2 in. (34.7 × 34.3 cm) image: 13 × 13 in. (33 × 33 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the artist, 86.152.16. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.152.16_PS1.jpg)
Tags
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Brooklyn Bridge
Date
1946
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Classification
Dimensions
sheet: 13 11/16 × 13 1/2 in. (34.7 × 34.3 cm) image: 13 × 13 in. (33 × 33 cm)
Inscriptions
Verso in graphite: "Brooklyn Bridge"
Markings
Photo stamp verso
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Accession Number
86.152.16
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org. If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email copyright@brooklynmuseum.org and we will assist if we can.
Have information?
Have information about an artwork? Contact us at
