3rd Grade: Lesson 6 (May) Art Masterpiece: The Brooklyn Bridge (1939)
by Joseph Stella
Keywords: Line, Symmetrical balance, Point of View, Futurist
Activity: Stained Glass Window Pane
Meet the Artist:
• Joseph Stella (1879 – 1946) was born in the mountain village of Muro
Lucano, Italy. He had a keen interest in art at an early age and drew
everything that interested him, including his classmates at school.
• When he was 19 years old, Stella immigrated to the United States and
settled in New York. After studying medicine for a year, he decided to
pursue his dream of becoming an artist.
3rd Grade: Lesson 6 (May) • Many of his Stella’s early paintings were realistic portraits of
immigrants, miners and steelworkers, and reflected life and machinery
of the modern industrial world.
• Stella loved geometric shapes, lines and mixed media. Mixed media is
any combination of different art materials in a composition, such as
paint, crayons, collage, colored pencils, etc.
• Stella considered himself a Futurist (see definition below).
About the Painting:
• “The Brooklyn Bridge” is Stella’s signature image – he portrayed its
maze of wires and cables, the granite piers, Gothic arches & pedestrian
walkway as an abstract pattern of line, form and color.
• The Brooklyn Bridge was one of his favorite subjects to paint. He
painted 6 different pictures of it. It awed him, and he considered it a
“modern cathedral.”
• He was inspired to paint the bridge late one night as he stood alone on
the promenade listening to the noises of the city. He saw the bridge as
a force of inspiration; every aspect of it was magnificent in a way that
words could not describe.
• Stella saw the influence of the bridge (as well as the city skyscrapers in
Manhattan) as a marker that set New York apart from the rest of the
world. He translated all the energy he felt to his canvas as he painted.
Definitions:
• LINE: an outline or boundary of a figure or space.
• SYMMETRICAL BALANCE: both sides of a picture look the same.
• POINT OF VIEW: the position or angle from which something is
observed, a.k.a. Focal Point. Lines radiating from the focal point are called
Perspective Lines.
• FUTURIST: Artist who tries to show movement through repetition of an
image in a painting. There is a fascination with geometric precision,
machines and architecture. Stella created his special futurist style with
lines and spaces.
3rd Grade: Lesson 6 (May) Possible Questions:
• What is the subject of the painting? (The Brooklyn Bridge in NYC)
• Do you see more than one Point of View (or Focal Point) of the bridge?
(a head-on view, as if going over the bridge; a side view of the bridge
from a distance)
• Do you see the city? Can you point out the tower, the cables?
• What type of Lines did Stella use? (straight, curved, vertical, diagonal)
• Does this painting have Symmetrical Balance? Describe where you see
symmetry? Do bridges usually look exactly the same on both sides?
• Does this painting look Futuristic to you considering it was painted in
1939? Why?
Activity: Stained Glass Window Pane
1) Volunteer: Prepare one square tracing paper frame for each student
according to the following instructions: Start with one neutral-colored
square cardstock frame. Lay one sheet of square tracing paper on top of
the cardstock frame. Staple the tracing paper onto the frame at the
four corners. This should be done in advance to save time. Neutralcolored frames with tracing paper attached are for the back, and
brightly-colored frames are for the front.
2) Give one tracing paper frame to each student. Have students write their
names on the back of the neutral cardstock frame with pencil. Pass out
the black Sharpie markers and the Art Masterpiece rulers. Students
should NOT use the “classroom” set of rulers (to avoid staining them).
3) Instruct the students to draw one dot with the permanent marker in
the very center of the tracing paper square. Then, using the ruler, draw
lines radiating from the dot to the outside edge of the paper. Evenly
spaced lines will make the best “stained glass” patterns.
4) Students do not need to draw to the very edge of the paper (to avoid
hitting their desktop with the permanent marker). The paper frame will
cover the outer inch of their paper, so they only need to draw and color
to approximately 1/2-inch from the edge of the tracing paper.
3rd Grade: Lesson 6 (May) 5) Once the students have drawn the perspective lines, they can add
whatever other lines they wish, and the lines do not have to connect to
the dot in the center. This way, a series of geometric shapes is formed
with the focal point in the center of the square. Emphasize the
importance of creating symmetrical balance.
6) After the stained glass outlines are formed with the black Sharpies,
collect the permanent markers and hand out the regular (washable)
markers. Students will then color in all the shapes on their tracing paper
with a variety of bright colors.
7) After all coloring is complete, collect the markers. Give each student a
colored cardstock frame and a glue stick. Using the glue stick, attach
the colored frame to the edges of the tracing paper. Press the layers
together to form a “sandwich” with the tracing paper in the middle.
8) Once the stained glass window panes are dry, they can be hung all
together in the windows of the classroom to form one large stainedglass window.
Materials needed:
• Stapler
• Neutral-colored 8 x 8-inch square cardstock with a smaller 6 x 6-inch
square cut out of the middle to make a frame. (1 per student)
• 8 x 8-inch square tracing paper
• Black Sharpie markers
• Rulers (Use Art Masterpiece set, not classroom set, in case of staining
with the Sharpies.)
• Colored markers (If markers dry out, please discard them.)
• Brightly-colored 8 x 8-inch square cardstock with a smaller 6 x 6-inch
square cut out of the middle to make a frame. (1 per student)
• Glue sticks
Ø If students make a mistake on the tracing paper that they are concerned
about, give them a new tracing paper frame. However, keep the used
frame so the Art M. Coordinator can attach new tracing paper to it later.
3rd Grade: Lesson 6 (May) Artwork Examples: