Drawbridge

Louis Lozowick, Drawbridge, 1939, pencil and charcoal pencil on illustration board, image: 16 x 8 ¹⁄₂ in. (40.6 x 21.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1972.123, © 1939, Lee Lozowick

Artwork Details

Title: Drawbridge
Artist: Louis Lozowick
Date: 1939
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: image: 16 x 8 ¹⁄₂ in. (40.6 x 21.6 cm)
Copyright: © 1939, Lee Lozowick
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Mediums: pencil
Mediums Description: pencil and charcoal pencil on illustration board
Classifications: Drawing
Subjects: Architecture — bridge
Object Number: 1972.123
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1972.123

Artwork Description

Lozowick’s fascination with bridges echoes the technological optimism that swept across America after World War I. He also believed that such subjects offered the opportunity to combine abstraction and representation in his art. Lozowick said, “There is no theoretical reason why the technical gains of abstraction cannot be used in the representation of an actual scene… If the graphic artist can avoid the danger of ornamental abstraction on the one hand and photographic realism on the other, if he can apply the force of new technical equipment to the wealth of new themes, no prospect for what he might accomplish would be too hopeful.”

Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009