The Great East River Bridge, to Connect the Cities of New York and Brooklyn
Publisher Currier & Ives American
Not on view
This New York view imagines the future appearance of the Brooklyn Bridge, looking across the East River towards lower Manhattan. In 1872 construction was in progress, but the bridge would not open until 1883. As built, the support towers were slightly different than shown here, with pointed arches, echoing Gothic cathedrals, used rather than the rounded ones seen here.
The New York firm of Currier & Ives grew from a printing business established by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) in 1835. Expansion led, in 1857, to a partnership with James Merritt Ives (1824–1895). The firm operated until 1907, lithographing over 4,000 subjects for distribution across America and Europe with popular categories including landscape, marines, natural history, genre, caricatures, portraits, history and foreign views. Until the 1880s, images were printed in monochrome, then hand-colored by women who worked for the company.