'/tnd the bridge continues to hold sway over the imagination," says Keith Miller, whose felicitous brief history of it is on page 13. '/tlthough from a distance dwarfed by the Manhattan office towers which rise behind it, the Brooklyn Bridge still exerts a strong presence on those who approach the base ofeither ofits towers or who cross it on foot." Here, the young Canadian artist, who has haunted the bridge for years, on frequent visits to New York, watches the schooner Pioneer drift up against the span, her home port of South Street Seaport lying just over her bowsprit end.
The great way to see the Bridge is of a morning, as the city awakens to its clamorous round and the mist of the day 's dawning clears away from the river's quiet-running surface. Here, with consummate artistry, William Muller captures that moment. A turn-of-the-century tug comes churning upriver, its gold leaf trim (yes, gold leaf) a-glitter in the sunlight breaking through. She will compete fiercely for her tows this day, as she does every day of the week. Her master (who may well own her or share in her ownership) rides her like a war steed in a medieval tournament. No-one will unseat him-and who would be elsewhere on such a morning? likely he'll give a friendly toot to the yachtsmen getting out of his way, bobbing in the river current in their sloop-though in the ordinary way he considers them a fearful nuisance. NOTE: This painting is shown in color on our cover. Other SH covers by Mr. Miller are found on SHJO and 20.
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SEA HIS1DRY, SUMMER 1983