JOSEPH STELLA

[1877–1946]

Brooklyn Bridge

c. 1919–1920

Joseph Stella

Self-Portrait

ca. 1940, ~age 63

Early Life • On June 13, 1877, Giuseppe Michele

Stella was born in a mountain village

near Naples, Italy.

Early Life • At the age of 18, he arrived at Ellis Island

and assimilated the English version of his

name, Joseph Stella.

• This was at a time of unprecedented urban

growth and social change in America.

(Machine Age)

• His older brother, Antonio Stella, had

immigrated to New York years earlier and

was a successful physician who hoped his

younger brother would follow in his

footsteps.

Early Life • However, after a year at medical school,

followed by another year at pharmacy school, Joseph Stella found his true passion - the arts.

• By the end of his first year of pharmacy school, he had given up on his family’s hopes to becoming a physician.

• Instead, he sought after his own dream, and enrolled at the New York School of Art.

Early Art Career •In 1903, the young Stella soon

turned to illustrating subjects of

New York’s immigrant population

to which he, himself, belonged.

•While working as an

illustrator, Stella was also

making a name for himself as

a painter.

– In 1906, his painting The Old

Man was exhibited at an

exhibition of the Society of

American Artists in New York.

http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/images/gif/stella22.gif

Artistic Influences • In 1909, he sailed for Europe because he was

homesick.

• During his extended stay in Paris, he witnessed,

for the first time, Cubist and Futurist. He met

Henri Matisse & Pablo Picasso.

• Influenced by the Italian Futurists, Stella adopted

the group’s claim:

“The modern artist should not look to

the past for material; instead, the

modern artist must endeavor to

express the civilization of his or her

own era.”

Pablo Picasso Pieces

Henry Matisse

American Futurist Artist

• Stella returned to New York in the fall of 1912.

• Upon his arrival, he broke away from the

traditional styles he had been taught years

earlier. He converted to Futurism, convinced that

only its new vision of reality could capture the

complexities of the Machine Age.

• His paintings were included in a landmark,

modern art show.

• He soon started to be hailed as the first

American Futurist painter.

http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/images/collections/D952133big.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CijcaA9yq58/SnI6Jh5d5rI/AAAAAAAAC-c/kecyO_2O0qc/s400/Joseph+Stella%3B+Battle+of+Lights,+Coney+Island,+1914.jpg

http://www.indstate.edu/gallery/images/paintings&drawings/joseph-stella1.jpg

Later in Life • In 1934, Stella settled in the Bronx with his wife

Mary French Stella.

• Over the next decade, his health deteriorated rapidly, and in turn, his reputation as a prolific painter suffered.

• At the age of 60, he developed heart disease, and was eventually confined to his bed in 1942.

• In the years following, Stella underwent an unsuccessful surgery for thrombosis in his left eye, and he suffered a serious injury from falling down an open elevator shaft.

• He died of a heart attack in 1946.

Today’s Print

Joseph Stella, The

Brooklyn Bridge:

Variation on an Old

Theme, 1939. Oil

on canvas, 70 × 42

in. Whitney

Museum of

American Art, New

York

Inspiration

• Stella had been inspired to paint the

Brooklyn Bridge by his own intense

experience of it late one night as he stood

alone on the promenade, listening to the

noises peculiar to the modern city:

• “the underground tumult of the trains in

perpetual motion,” “the shrill sulphurous

voice of the trolley wires,” “the strange

moanings of appeal from tug boats.”

Brooklyn Bridge • In the Brooklyn Bridge, Stella found a

subject that impressed him, he said, “as

the shrine containing all the efforts of the

new civilization of America.”

• Brooklyn Bridge, his signature image,

addressed the two aesthetic currents of

his time—representation and abstraction—

to suggest the deeper significance of this

modern architectural icon.

Find These Elements….

• Towers of the Brooklyn Bridge

• Bridge cables

Actual Photograph of Brooklyn

Bridge

http://www.people.vcu.edu/~nalamper/KristenRuble/images/stella.jpg

The Old Brooklyn Bridge

Stella visualized its various components—

the maze of wires and cables, the granite

piers and Gothic arches, the pedestrian

walkway and subway tunnels, the thrilling

prospect of Manhattan skyscrapers—as an

abstract pattern of line, form, and color that

evokes an idea of the bridge rather than

faithfully describing it.

Take a Closer look….

• What time of day is it?

• Are there any cars on the bridge?

Turn the

painting

upside down

• Does the picture

seem top heavy

or bottom

heavy?

• Why?

• The shapes are larger on the top and the

forms are thinner on the bottom. The cable

lines also are directed to the bottom center

and seem to disappear.

What do you think Joseph Stella

found fascinating about the

bridge?

Consider:

• The bridge’s size;

• What he may have seen while driving over

it during the day or at night;

• Its Urban setting;

• Was it peaceful or frightening?

Questions?

Thank you!

Project

Create your own variation of a bridge.

Instructions:

• Glue small pieces of colored tissue paper

on bridge outline much like stained glass

windows.

• Cut/fold pieces of aluminum foil to make

cables and glue on paper.