JOSEPH STELLA [1877–1946]

Brooklyn Bridge c. 1919–1920

Joseph Stella

ca. 1940, ~age 63 Self-Portrait

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.

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.

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

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.