Curatorial Narrative The British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924 was a watershed moment for modernity, as exemplified by Ernest Coffin’s “A bridge across the great lake.” Created in 1924, this artwork embodies the quintessential spirit of Art Deco, its visual syntax rooted in the machine age. The absence of brushwork in Coffin’s oeuvre is a deliberate choice, allowing him to focus on composition and form, much like his contemporaries in the field of modern architecture. As such, “A bridge across the great lake” is less concerned with evoking an atmospheric or emotive response than it is with capturing the essence of modernity through its chromatic structure.When enlarged to 44×63 inches, Coffin’s palette comprising blue, white, red, and black assumes a commanding presence. The spatial depth achieved by his use of geometric forms and flat perspective creates an interplay between surface and volume that would be at home in a lu