Bridge Cables II

Jolan Gross-Bettelheim's dynamic lithograph Bridge Cables II provides a dramatically sweeping view of a bridge simplified to an arrangement of carefully shaded cylindrical cables curving upward and away to rigid upright piers buttressed by crossed girders. The strongly angled perspective forcefully conveys the colossal strength and triumphant power of modern industry and technology. The smoothly rounded surfaces of the cables, like the highlighted areas of the background glimpsed between cables and girders, are modeled with subtle cross-hatching less typical of lithography than of drypoint etching, the printmaking medium Gross-Bettelheim first mastered.

The structural framework of pylons in the background of the print suggest that Gross-Bettelheim's image was inspired by the then-innovative George Washington Bridge, New York's first bridge to span the Hudson River. When it opened in 1931, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world and was regarded as a major feat of engineering. Rather than portray specifically this bridge, however, Gross-Bettelheim used a generalized treatment of its most striking features to celebrate the aesthetic geometry of the machine age. Bridge Cables II follows a tradition of American artists portraying the older and more famous Brooklyn Bridge, another link between Manhattan Island and adjacent land, as an icon of modernity, as demonstrated in John Marin's etching Brooklyn Bridge, No.6 (TF 1995.15) and Arnold Ronnebeck's lithograph Brooklyn Bridge (TF 1996.55). 

L'Amérique et les modernes, 1900–1950 (American Moderns, 1900–1950), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 25–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]

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.]

America’s Cool Modernism: O’Keeffe to Hopper, Terra Foundation for American Art and the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, UK (organizers.) Venue: Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, United Kingdom, March 23, 2018–July 22, 2018 [exh. cat.]

Terra Collection-in-Residence, Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, United Kingdom, September 15, 2022–September 30, 2026.

 

Williams, Reba and Dave. "Jolan Gross Bettelheim: A Hidden Life." Print Quarterly 7:3 (1990): 303–314.

Cartwright, Derrick R. and Paul J. Karlstrom. American Moderns, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Fig. 4, p. 78 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]

Cartwright, Derrick R. and Paul J. Karlstrom. L'Amérique et les modernes, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Fig. 4, p. 78 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]

Bourguignon, Katherine M., Lauren Kroiz, and Leo G. Mazow. America’s Cool Modernism: O’Keeffe to Hopper. Oxford, United Kingdom: Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology–University of Oxford, 2018. Ill. p. 134, detail p. 16, cat. no.32 (color).