The viewer also seems suspended over the river. while both the perspective and strong diagonals guide the viewers eyes across the visual expanse of the painting entitled "Paterson: The Aerialist. August 5. 1879." In his own words the painting "depicts an event. that occurred toward the end of the last century. It was a period of prosperity for Patersons mills and factories that were made possible by the water power of the Great Falls and the labor of recently arrived immigrants. In those days. it was not uncommon on a fine Sunday for crowds to be drawn to the Falls to watch aerialists cross over the span of the gorge. Such a feat of daring occurred in 1879. commemorated only by a blurred and faded photograph. when one Harry Leslie undertook to walk across the gorge on a tightrope. and it Is this occasion that I chose to Imaginatively represent." Robert Birmelln is a native of northern New Jersey and continues to have close ties to the regions people. places. economics. social. and Industrial history.
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immigrants