John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge

Photographer Unknown

CountryUnited States

MediumGelatin Silver

Year1921

View Additional Information & Tags

Boats, Bridges, Fog, Landscape, Rivers, Supports

Dimensions

Image Dimensions: 9.1 x 11.9 cm
Support Dimensions: 23.1 x 21.5 cm two-sided heavy card with olive green on recto and gray on verso


This pictorial photograph has been identified as showing the Roebling Suspension Bridge in the background based on several other vintage period profile views of the structure. (1.) German-born American civil engineer John Augustus Roebling (1806-1869) began design work on his most famous bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, in 1867. This was the same year his suspension bridge seen in this photograph spanning the Ohio River was finished and officially opened. The Brooklyn Bridge was completed and opened in 1883.

 

Signed in black ink at lower right corner of print recto with stylized monogram showing 3 for March followed by an intertwined W + A + C  for the photographer’s initials followed by the number 21 for the year 1921.  It is possible C represents copyright.

 

signed in graphite on mount verso: 120DD95


condition: Tack holes in each corner of mount. Since there is no “silvering” present on the margins of the print itself, it is possible this may be a platinum print. Title of this work supplied by this archive.

 

From Wikipedia accessed Feb., 2015:

 

The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. When the first pedestrians crossed on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet (322 m) main span.[3]

 

1. See period ca. 1918 photo: Title: John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge across the Ohio River.: from:The Greater Cincinnati Memory Project online resource: SWON Libraries Consortium: kce000430photo

John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge