Animations:

Visit
Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Admission is always free

6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights
Through September 5
Exhibitions & Events
America’s 250th

Celebrating American art and artists
Art & Artists
Open Call

Artists Reimagining the Collection
Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Open 10:00–5:00

Visit
Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Admission is always free

6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights
Through September 5
Exhibitions & Events
America’s 250th

Celebrating American art and artists
Art & Artists
Open Call

Artists Reimagining the Collection
Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Building Destroyers, No.I

1917

Joseph Pennell

Associated Names

Joseph Pennell

Artist, American, 1857 - 1926

The image shows an industrial shipyard or construction site from a slightly elevated viewpoint. Large metal cranes dominate the composition, with a sketchy and expressive style using dynamic pencil strokes. The color palette is monochromatic, using shades of gray to create contrast between the structures and the sky. Construction materials are scattered in the foreground, with additional structures in the distance creating a vertical rhythm.

Download

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

Medium

lithograph
Credit Line

Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number

1943.3.6905
Catalogue Raisonné

Wuerth 1931, no. 502

Artwork history & notes

Bibliography

1931

Wuerth, Louis A. Catalogue of the Lithographs of Joseph Pennell. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1931.

Wikidata ID

Q65022605

You may be interested in