East River View with Brooklyn Bridge
1 of 2
Caption
Yvonne Jacquette American, 1934–2023. East River View with Brooklyn Bridge, 1983. Oil on canvas, 80 1/4 × 128 × 1 1/2 in. (203.8 × 325.1 × 3.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Landowne-Bloom Foundation in memory of Louis Landowne and Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 83.84. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 83.84_SL1.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
East River View with Brooklyn Bridge
Date
1983
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
80 1/4 × 128 × 1 1/2 in. (203.8 × 325.1 × 3.8 cm)
Signatures
Unsigned
Credit Line
Purchased with funds given by the Landowne-Bloom Foundation in memory of Louis Landowne and Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Accession Number
83.84
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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Frequent Art Questions
I've never seen the Brooklyn Bridge like this before.
This is such a unique perspective of the Brooklyn Bridge! I love the way that the artist has used short brushstrokes to capture the play of light over the East River.The artist began painting "bird's eye" cityscapes in the 1970s after she was inspired by the view on a flight to California.Is this the painting used on the cover of James Salter’s Dusk?
A reproduction of this painting is used on James Salter’s Dusk and Other Stories. It was indeed the cover of the first edition version.Did she paint other views of the Brooklyn Bridge?
Yes, she has! New York is a favorite subject for her, and she has an extensive series of aerial views of cities.Do you know what building has the red signage casting the shadow on the water?
This view is from 1983 so Brooklyn has changed a bit since it was painted! We can not say conclusively which building it is. The artist, Yvonne Jacquette, is known for aerial views like this. She sketches and paints from helicopters and the highest stories of skyscrapers to achieve these birds-eye views of New York.Is there a particular name for the technique she is using with all of these crossed brushstrokes?
Crosshatching is the general term for the technique.What style of painting is this?
This is considered "New Realism", which was a movement in the 1980s.Do you happen to know if the vantage point is from Brooklyn or Manhattan? It looks like she’s in Brooklyn looking towards Manhattan, but the name of the piece doesn’t specify.
This view was painted from Lower Manhattan, facing east, with Brooklyn across the river. If you look at the upper left of the canvas, past the Brooklyn Bridge, you will see a very small section of the Manhattan Bridge!Tell me about these two.
These two paintings make such a great pair! Yvonne Jacquette sketched New York City from high floors of tall buildings and even chartered helicopters to get to the angles she was interested in.Boris Anisfeld, on the other hand, climbed to the top of a mountain to view the Black Sea; but when painting this canvas, he imagined he was even higher above the clouds!Who is Yvonne Jacquette?
She is an American artist who is best known for her bird's eye views of cities and landscapes! To create her aerial views, Jacquette works from spaces on the upper floors of high office buildings or apartment buildings. She also charters helicopters and small planes to fly over views that she wants to observe and sketch. As the artist puts it, she is drawn to bird's-eye views by her "curiosity about how perspective reveals man-made structures and their relationship to 'nature.'”Do you know the artistic process of how she constructed her piece?
I can't seem to find any confirmation of how she works, though I do know she often sketches the scenes she will later make into paintings. As for what color she lays down first, based on how the work looks I would be inclined to believe she does lay down a blue ground first.Tell me about the play of light and water in the painting of the east river.
Great question. It shows us the reflective power of light on water. Did you notice the artist's use of short separate brushstrokes in the red reflections of light on the water and on the lights of the Brooklyn Bridge's suspension cables?
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