Brooklyn Bridge, No. 6

John Marin's Brooklyn Bridge, No. 6 presents the famous bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn across the East River in multiple sets of echoing lines. Thrusting lines evoke the surge of traffic crossing the bridge; others suggest reverberations of pulsating energy that emanate from girders and cables vibrating from traffic movement. The plunging diagonals in the foreground and the distant perspective on the far tower of the bridge, glimpsed through the arched "windows" in the looming near tower, exaggerate the arching slope of the bridge's roadway, on which the forms of vehicles and pedestrians are suggested. In contrast to the more literal and factual presentation of the bridge in John Taylor Arms's print The Gates of the City (TF 1996.3), Marin's composition of radiating lines conveys the experience of being part of the bustling movement on the bridge that causes it to slightly jiggle and sway.

During his stay in Paris beginning in 1905, Marin was inspired by the prints of the influential American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler, who, along with Parisian etcher Charles Meryon (1821–68), was an early graphic interpreter of the city. Marin taught himself etching technique with the help of the widely used Treatise on Etching, an 1880 manual by French artist Maxime Lalanne (1827–86). When he settled in New York permanently in 1911, Marin found a new source of subjects for his etching: an urban scene full of major structures exuding a modern dynamism. To evoke their exciting vibrancy, Marin fragmented forms using expressive angular lines, distorting reality in a manner reminiscent of the new mode known as cubism, as seen in this print and in his Woolworth Building, No. 2 (TF 1995.16).

The Brooklyn Bridge emerged as one of Marin's most important subjects, one to which he returned in later years and various media, as shown by Brooklyn Bridge, on the Bridge (TF 1999.95) and Sailboat, Brooklyn Bridge, New York Skyline (TF 2006.1). Celebrated as the world's first steel-wire suspension bridge and the first bridge spanning the East River, the bridge was widely admired as an icon of urban optimism in the early twentieth century, and it inspired numerous artists. Marin made several prints of its monumental towers, network of cables, and roadway. Included in his series Six New York Etchings, Brooklyn Bridge is regarded as one of the artist's graphic masterpieces. 

Paris-New York, aller-retour. Une Modernité américaine en formation, 1875–1940. Oeuvres des collections de la Terra Foundation for the Arts et des Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (Paris-New York, Roundtrip. American Modernism in the Making, 1875–1940. Works from the Terra Foundation for the Arts and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, September 15–November 30, 2002. [exh. cat.]

Icon of Modernism: Representing the Brooklyn Bridge, 1883–1950. Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia (organizer); Venue: Georgia Museum of Art, September 17–December 11, 2016 [exh. cat.]

Atelier 17: Modern Printmaking in the Americas (Atelier 17: Gravura moderna nas Américas, Museu De Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP) and Terra Foundation for American Art (organizer). Venue: Museu De Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP), March 23–June 2, 2019. [exh. cat.]

Zigrosser, Carl. The Complete Etchings of John Marin. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1969. No. 112.

Jacobowitz, Ellen S. and George H. Marcus. American Graphics, 1860–1940: Selected from the Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982. No. 65, p. 69 (ill. PMA impression acc. no. 67-31–99).

Master Prints of Five Centuries: The Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection. (exh. cat., The Detroit Institute of Arts). Detroit, Michigan: Founders Society, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1990. No. 71, p. 92.

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text p. 178; ill. p. 178 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d'art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text p. 178; ill. p. 178 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]

Griffith, Bronwyn and Lee A. Vedder. Paris-New York, aller-retour (New York-Paris Round Trip). (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text p. 38 (French), 93 (English), 107 (checklist); fig. 16, p. 37 (color), back cover (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Rossetti de Toledo, Carolina, Ana Gonçalves Magalhães, and Peter John Brownlee. Atelier 17 e a gravura moderna nas Americas / Atelier 17 and Modern Printmaking in the Americas. (exh. cat., Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo). São Paulo, Brazil: 2019. Text pp. 258-259; ill. p. 257 (color).