Images(2)

Bridge

Date1931

Maker Kamekichi Tokita American (born in Japan), 1897–1948

Label TextTokita famously said his artistic aims were “found in Cézanne and . . . developed through the methods used by Sesshu.” This highly innovative composition can be said to bear the mark of these two paradigms of the European and Asian traditions. A close view of the network of trusses and stairways that define Seattle’s infrastructure of bridges, it demonstrates the artist’s understanding of Cézanne’s forms and volumes and Sesshu’s intricacies of line.

Object number33.230

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Art Institute of Seattle, 17th Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists, Sept. 23 - Nov. 1, 1931. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Oil Paintings by Seattle Artists, June 28 - July 31, 1933. Puyallup, Washington, Western Washington Fair, Contemporary American Painting, 1941. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The View From Here: The Pacific Northwest 1800-1930, Aug. 8, 2003 - Feb. 29, 2004. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Painting Seattle: Kamekichi Tokita and Kenjiro Nomura, Oct. 22, 2011 - Feb. 19, 2012. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Northwest Modernism: Four Japanese Americans, Mar. 20, 2021 - June 5, 2022.Published ReferencesQuarterly Bulletin of Art Institute of Seattle, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1931, reproduced p. 7. Callahan, Kenneth. "The Art Situation; Paintings reflect region." Town Crier, October 21, 1933: pp. 9-10. Fuller, Richard E. "Some Facts Apropos...," Town Crier, June 24, 1933, reproduced p. 6. Johns, Barbara. Signs of Home: The Paintings and Wartime Diary of Kamekichi Tokita, in association with Painting Seattle: Kamekichi Tokita and Kenjiro Nomura. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 2011; pp. 88-89, reproduced fig. 68.

Credit LineGift of the artist

Dimensions23 1/4 x 19 1/16 in. (59.1 x 48.4 cm)

MediumOil on canvas