Artwork
The City Bridge, St. Louis [bottom]
![The City Bridge, St. Louis [bottom], by American 20th Century, 1919](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/american-20th-century--the-city-bridge-st-louis-bottom--bb02af50b68cd7e2-w1024.webp)
The City Bridge, St. Louis [bottom] is a print by American 20th Century. It dates from 1919 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. The work titled “The City Bridge, St.
About this work
Overview
The work titled “The City Bridge, St. Louis” is a photo‑mechanical reproduction presented as a print. Executed in a sketch‑like manner, it depicts a metal truss bridge spanning a river, with a modest urban landscape of low buildings and trees lining the banks. The artist’s signature, “Tunnell,” appears in the lower right corner, matching the title.
Subject & Meaning
The image captures a moment of everyday infrastructure, focusing on the structural geometry of the bridge and its relationship to the surrounding cityscape. By reducing the scene to essential lines and forms, the composition emphasizes the interplay between engineered construction and the modest scale of the adjacent built environment.
Technique & Style
Rendered with rapid, loose lines, the print employs chiaroscuro to model light and shadow across the bridge’s crisscrossing metal members. The swift, gestural quality suggests a sketch made from memory or a brief observation, while the photo‑mechanical process reproduces that immediacy in a reproducible medium.
History & Provenance
The piece is attributed to an artist identified only as Tunnell, whose name appears both in the title and the signature. No further documentation of its creation date, original exhibition, or ownership history is provided, leaving its provenance largely undocumented beyond the printed attribution.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
This artist left just two photo-based prints of St. Louis bridges from 1919—sharp, straight-down views printed in ink on paper. Both shots lock onto the Eads Bridge and the City Bridge with a grid of vertical lines and…
![The Eads Bridge, St. Louis [top], by American 20th Century](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/american-20th-century--the-eads-bridge-st-louis-top--5e23fa5f4cd6aa2c-w320.webp)
