Koerner, Henry (Austrian/American/Pittsburgh, 1915-1991), Brady Street Bridge, c.1955, ink on paper, mounted to a backing board, signed lower left, 16 x 19.5 inches. This lot is being sold to benefit Rivers of Steel in Homestead, PA. Provenance: the artist's estate. Joseph Leo Koerner's statement about this artwork: This drawing depicts the old Brady Street Bridge (closed in 1976), with view across the Monongahela and with the Duquesne Brewery clock visible at the upper right. The drawing is typical of Koerner’s sketching style in the 1950s. Working always and only “from life,” here standing at the edge of the sidewalk, he captured what he saw, using a Waterman pen engineered to take rich thick “India ink” that would clog any ordinary fountain pen. Koerner called the pen his Stradivarius, due to its ability, through a subtly pliant nib, to create beautiful, almost “melodic” lines. Relying on outline, alone, and never resorting to shading for definitions of things, Koerner mirrored the density of the view with the density of the drawing itself. Koerner never called such drawings “sketches,” as they were complete compositions, here with the roadway spanning the lower framing edge of the sheet, and the bridge, river, and hills beyond forming a monumental statement about the city he loved: Pittsburgh, “city of bridges,” and the artist’s adoptive home. Mounted to a backing board, otherwise in good condition with a few faint stains along the edges. Merchandise will be packed and transported by the purchaser at their own risk and expense. A list of recommended shippers is on our website: https://www.conceptgallery.com/auctions/shipping/ .