Artwork
White Mules on a Bridge
White Mules on a Bridge is an oil painting by the Regionalist artist Anne Goldthwaite. It dates from 1935 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The focus on the mules and their placement on the bridge suggests a narrative of travel or transition, evoking themes of journey and labor.
The painting depicts a pair of white mules standing on a bridge, accompanied by a wagon or cart and harnessed to an animal. The focus on the mules and their placement on the bridge suggests a narrative of travel or transition, evoking themes of journey and labor. The choice of white mules may symbolize purity or simplicity within this setting, while the bridge serves as a threshold between spaces, reinforcing ideas of passage or connection.
The work’s composition and subject align with regionalist tendencies of the 1930s, grounding its meaning in everyday rural life and the human relationship with animals and landscape.
Technique & Style
White Mules on a Bridge is executed in oil paint on canvas, a traditional medium that supports the work's painterly handling. The canvas measures 61.8 by 76.2 centimeters, providing an ample horizontal format suited to its compositional subject of mules, a bridge, wagon, and cart. The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where its condition can be presumed stable under institutional care.
Stylistically, the oil medium allows for the layered application and tonal modulation characteristic of Anne Goldthwaite's mature work, with the depicted bridge and animal figures rendered in a manner consistent with her early-1930s painterly approach.
History & Provenance
The painting White Mules on a Bridge was created by Anne Goldthwaite in 1935, as indicated by both the artist’s records and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s documentation. The work entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, where it has since been held. Its dimensions, 61.8 cm in height and 76.2 cm in width, are consistent with the museum’s holdings record for this painting.
White Mules on a Bridge, an oil painting on canvas by Anne Goldthwaite dated 1935, is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as recorded in the Wikidata entry for the work. The painting, measuring 61.8 by 76.2 centimeters, is documented as part of the museum's holdings, though no specific inventory or accession number is provided in the available sources. No exhibition history or prior display venues are recorded in the consulted materials.
Overview
Anne Goldthwaite's 1935 oil painting, White Mules on a Bridge, captures a dynamic scene of rural transport. The work depicts a wagon, drawn by two robust mules, traversing a substantial metal bridge. Currently part of the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this piece exemplifies Goldthwaite's distinctive approach to depicting everyday life with a sense of immediacy and vigor.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Anne Goldthwaite was an American painter and printmaker and an advocate of women's rights and equal rights.
![The City Bridge, St. Louis [bottom]](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/the-city-bridge-st-louis-bottom--bb02af50b68cd7e2-w320.webp)
