newcritics

“The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.”
–F. Scott, Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Has anyone in love with New York City not been enthralled by its bridges–whether from above, below, or speeding across into all the the mystery and all the beauty?

So, clearly, was Eugene de Salignac (1861-1943), whose photographs have been collected in a book, New York Rises, with a parallel exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.

de Salignac was the official photographer for the New York City Department of Bridges/Plant and Structures for the first three decades of the 20th century. This bestowed him with an utterly mundane purpose: photographing the creation of major municipal projects, in case of a bridge failure, lawsuit, or some other problem. But oh, what a time to serve the bureaucracy. During these thirty years, the city built much of the biggest, most monumental public works that form Manhattan today, including the Queensboro and Williamsburg bridges.

de Salignac had an artist’s eye, as the photograph below attests. In 1914, after photographing painters on the Brooklyn Bridge, he asked them to pose for this now famous shot.

Any musicians out there care to riff on these human quarter-notes?