Thomas Fransioli (1906–1997)

THOMAS FRANSIOLI (1906–1997)
The Brooklyn Bridge in 1892, 1965
Oil on canvas, 36 1/2 x 48 1/4 in.
Signed (at lower right): FRANSIOLI

EX COLL.: private collection, Fairfield, Connecticut; to [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1985]; to Salim Lewis, Short Hills, New Jersey, 1985–93; to [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1993–2003]; to private collection, 2003 until the present

In The Brooklyn Bridge in 1892 Fransioli plays with the theme of past and present juxtaposed in several ways. This is an 1892 view painted in 1965, showing the Bridge sharing the river with tall-masted sailing vessels. Moreover, the artist's point of view is elevated, not quite so high as the aerial photographs that we know from the twentieth century, but seemingly from a vantage point in a nearby tall building, of which there were several by 1892. These are the rooftops of old New York, then, seen from a characteristically "modern" perch.