High Bridge dates from Lawson's early period (between 1898 and 1915), when he lived for a time in Washington Heights, at the northern tip of Manhattan. Having left the area in 1906 when he moved to Greenwich Village, the artist often returned to paint his favorite sites until about 1916. This composition represents the High Bridge, which was modeled after a Roman aqueduct and which crosses the Harlem River at 174th Street. While the delicately applied pigments and atmospheric effects of High Bridge reflect Lawson's dreamily impressionist style, the brushstrokes that define the structures in the painting hint at his awareness of the European avant-garde.
