The Importance of the Bridge

Looking more closely at the painting to try to find where exactly its location was on the Harlem River, I turned to an impeding structure that resides in the background of the image, The Washington Bridge. I began by researching the name of the bridges on the Harlem River, looking at many images of possible bridges that look similar to the one in Lawson’s creation. I narrowed it down to two options, High Bridge and Washington Bridge. At first, I thought for sure High Bridge was the bridge in The Harlem River (Rivershacks) because it looks very similar. I researched the history of Washington Bridge and found that the bridge was opened in 1889 for horse drawn carriages and wagons because of the influx of people moving into Washington Heights. This happend to be where Lawson was living at the time of 1889, so the inclusion of Washington Bridge in his painting makes perfect sense.To confirm my theory further, I looked up other Lawson paintings to see the different angles and views in which he painted on the banks of the Harlem River and to see if the bridges were synonymous . In his piece, Spring Night and Harlem River, a very closely related bridge to the bridge in The Harlem River (Rivershacks) is painted with the same Roman architectural features.