Among the Sierra Nevada, California

Last updated

Among the Sierra Nevada, California
Bierstadt - Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains - 1868.jpg
Artist Albert Bierstadt
Year1868
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions180 cm× 305.12 cm(72 in× 120.125 in) [1]
Location Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Among the Sierra Nevada, California (also known as Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains) is an 1868 oil-on-canvas painting by German-American artist Albert Bierstadt which depicts a landscape scene of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. Created at his studio in Rome, the painting was exhibited throughout Europe, creating interest in immigration to the United States. Measuring 72 by 120+18 inches (183 by 305 cm), the painting is a centerpiece of the 19th-century landscape collection at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Contents

Background

Albert Bierstadt - Valley of the Yosemite - Google Art Project.jpg
Bierstadt's Valley of the Yosemite (1864)
Bierstadt Albert In the Mountains.jpg
Bierstadt's In the Mountains (1867)

Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) immigrated from Germany to New Bedford, Massachusetts, as an infant. [2] He later went back to Germany to study art at the Düsseldorf Academy [3] before returning to the United States and becoming part of the Hudson River School. After the gold rush to California, Bierstadt was part of an 1859 survey expedition, led by Frederick W. Lander, to scout a route for a railroad across the Rockies. Sponsored by the Union Pacific Railroad, over the next decade, he made several more such trips during which he painted scenes of California with the goal of attracting visitors and investors to the region. It was on such a journey to the Sierra Nevada in 1863 that Bierstadt may have seen what he later depicted in Among the Sierra Nevada. [2]

Description

Among the Sierra Nevada was created in Rome in winter 1867–68, four years after Bierstadt's trip to the Sierra Nevada. [4] [5] The painting measures 72 by 120+18 inches (183 by 305 cm) and has an elaborate frame measuring 96+14 by 144+38 by 7+14 inches (244 by 367 by 18 cm). [6] [1]

The painting depicts rugged mountains on the left and background that reach out to a bright sky with the Sun's rays peeking through the clouds. The mountains look over a calm lake with a group of deer and waterfowl on its edge and is bordered by trees on the right side of the painting. [7] On the viewer's left in the water under the shadow of the rocks, there is a single trout, only visible when viewed very closely. [8]

Exhibition and provenance

The painting was first shown in London the summer after its creation – along with two other works by the artist. It was then shown at the Royal Academy in Berlin, where it earned a Gold Medal. [5] It was later exhibited in Paris, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. A consummate promoter of his own work, Bierstadt presumably hoped to raise the price of the piece by exhibiting it around Europe. [3] [4] He would plant stories in newspapers and sell tickets to his exhibitions, turning the unveiling of his work into a theatrical event. [9]

Bierstadt took the painting to the United States in 1869 and sold it to Alvin Adams, an art collector in Boston. [5] Adams had also owned another Bierstadt piece, Lake Lucerne (1858). [10] In 1873, Among the Sierra Nevada was acquired by William Brown Dinsmore (1810–1888), [11] [12] a businessman who wanted it for his country villa Locusts on Hudson in Dutchess County, New York. It passed down to his great-granddaughter, Helen Huntington Hull. Locusts on Hudson was demolished, and Hull had a new home built on the property in 1941. As part of the interior decoration, she had Among the Sierra Nevada removed from its frame and glued to an interior wall in the new house. [12]

Locusts on Hudson Farm Building.JPG
One of the barns of the Locusts on Hudson estate
Smithsonian-Bierstadt-Among the Sierra Nevada-2103.jpg
The painting on exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Hull died in 1976 leaving the painting as a bequest to the Smithsonian Institution. William Truettner, a curator for the Smithsonian, was sent to Hull's house to retrieve the painting and also found the original ornate gilded frame—in four pieces but in good condition—in a barn on the property. Conservators spent about 600 hours to clean the painting, including the glue from the back of the canvas, before it was remounted on the original frame. [12] In 1985, the painting became a centerpiece of the 19th-century landscape collection at Smithsonian American Art Museum. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Bierstadt</span> German-American landscape painter (1830–1902)

Albert Bierstadt was a German American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not the first artist to record the sites, but he was the foremost painter of them for the remainder of the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hudson River School</span> American art movement

The Hudson River School was a mid-19th-century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. Early on, the paintings typically depicted the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, including the Catskill, Adirondack, and White Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Cole</span> 19th-century English-American painter

Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history paintings. Influenced by European painters, but with a strong American sensibility, he was prolific throughout his career and worked primarily with oil on canvas. His paintings are typically allegoric and often depict small figures or structures set against moody and evocative natural landscapes. They are usually escapist, framing the New World as a natural eden contrasting with the smog-filled cityscapes of Industrial Revolution-era Britain, in which he grew up. His works, often seen as conservative, criticize the contemporary trends of industrialism, urbanism, and westward expansion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Moran</span> 19th and 20th-century American artist

Thomas Moran was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth took residence in New York where he obtained work as an artist. He was a younger brother of the noted marine artist Edward Moran, with whom he shared a studio. A talented illustrator and exquisite colorist, Thomas Moran was hired as an illustrator at Scribner's Monthly. During the late 1860s, he was appointed the chief illustrator for the magazine, a position that helped him launch his career as one of the premier painters of the American landscape, in particular, the American West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wadsworth Atheneum</span> Art museum in Hartford, Connecticut

The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School landscapes, modernist masterpieces and contemporary works, as well as collections of early American furniture and decorative arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donner Pass</span> Mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada, California

Donner Pass is a 7,056-foot-high (2,151 m) mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, above Donner Lake and Donner Memorial State Park about 9 miles (14 km) west of Truckee, California. Like the Sierra Nevada themselves, the pass has a steep approach from the east and a gradual approach from the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Trost Richards</span> American landscape painter (1833–1905)

William Trost Richards was an American landscape artist. He was associated with both the Hudson River School and the American Pre-Raphaelite movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanford Robinson Gifford</span> American painter (1823–1880)

Sanford Robinson Gifford was an American landscape painter and a leading member of the second generation of Hudson River School artists. A highly-regarded practitioner of Luminism, his work was noted for its emphasis on light and soft atmospheric effects.

<i>The Rocky Mountains, Landers Peak</i> 1863 oil painting by Albert Bierstadt

The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak is an 1863 landscape oil painting by the German-American painter Albert Bierstadt. It is based on sketches made during Bierstadt's travels with Frederick W. Lander's Honey Road Survey Party in 1859. The painting shows Lander's Peak in the Wyoming Range of the Rocky Mountains, with an encampment of Native Americans in the foreground. It has been compared to, and exhibited with, The Heart of the Andes by Frederic Edwin Church. Lander's Peak immediately became a critical and popular success and sold in 1865 for $25,000.

<i>Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California</i> 1865 oil painting by Albert Bierstadt

Looking Down the Yosemite Valley, California is an 1865 painting by the German-American painter Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locusts on Hudson</span> Estate in Staatsburg, New York

Locusts on Hudson is a 76-acre (31 ha) estate in Staatsburg, New York, owned by hotelier André Balazs. The property has both an operating farm and manor. The historic estate now acts as an events venue due in part to its naturalistic landscape. A portion of the produce and animals of the farm are sent to The Standard Grill, The Standard, High Line Hotel, and Narcissa at The Standard, East Village Hotel, also owned by Balazs, in New York City, New York. Designed by architect John Churchill in the early 1940s, the estate's manor is of a neo-baroque style. Beside the manor, there are many grey and white antique remnants of dairy barns on the property.

<i>The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777</i> Painting by John Trumbull

The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 is the title of an oil painting by the American artist John Trumbull depicting the death of the American General Hugh Mercer at the Battle of Princeton on Friday, January 3, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War. The painting was Trumbull’s first depiction of an American victory. It is one of a series of historical paintings on the war, which also includes the Declaration of Independence and The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776.

<i>The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776</i> Painting by John Trumbull, completed in 1828

The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776 is the title of an oil painting by the American artist John Trumbull depicting the capture of the Hessian soldiers at the Battle of Trenton on the morning of Thursday, December 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. The focus is on General George Washington aiding the mortally wounded Hessian Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall. Nearly 900 Hessians were captured at the battle. It is one of Trumbull's series of historical paintings on the war, which also includes the Declaration of Independence and The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777. The painting is on view at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.

<i>Red Canna</i> (paintings) Georgia OKeefe series (1915-1927)

Georgia O'Keeffe made a number of Red Canna paintings of the canna lily plant, first in watercolor, such as a red canna flower bouquet painted in 1915, but primarily abstract paintings of close-up images in oil. O'Keeffe said that she made the paintings to reflect the way she herself saw flowers, although others have called her depictions erotic, and compared them to female genitalia. O'Keeffe said they had misconstrued her intentions for doing her flower paintings: "Well – I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower – and I don't."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Huntington Hull</span> American socialite, patron of arts and political hostess (1893–1976)

Helen Dinsmore Huntington Astor Hull was an American socialite, arts patron, and political hostess.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susie M. Barstow</span> American painter

Susie M. Barstow was an American painter associated with the Hudson River School who was known for her luminous landscapes.

<i>Indians in Council, California</i> 1872 oil painting by Albert Bierstadt

Indians in Council, California is an 1872 oil landscape painting by the Hudson River School artist Albert Bierstadt. The painting was made amidst Bierstadt's Yosemite and Sierra Nevada work, while he was residing in California. He felt Native American life was "rapidly passing away", and it was an artist's duty to "tell...their history".

<i>The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775</i> 1786 painting by John Trumbull

The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775 is an oil painting completed in 1786 by the American artist John Trumbull. It depicts American general Richard Montgomery at the Battle of Quebec during the invasion of Quebec. The painting is on view at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the second in Trumbull's series of national historical paintings on the American Revolutionary War, the first being The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775.

<i>Kaaterskill Falls</i> (painting) Painting by Thomas Cole

Kaaterskill Falls is an 1826 oil-on-canvas painting by British-American painter Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School. It depicts the Kaaterskill Falls in Upstate New York.

References

  1. 1 2 "Among the Sierra Nevada, California". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Kurin, Richard (October 25, 2016). The Smithsonian's History of America in 101 Objects. Penguin. pp. 247–248. ISBN   978-0-14-312815-1.
  3. 1 2 Honour, Hugh; Fleming, John (2005). A World History of Art. Laurence King Publishing. p. 676. ISBN   978-1-85669-451-3.
  4. 1 2 Kurin 2016, p. 248.
  5. 1 2 3 Ellis, Amy; Miesmer, Maureen (2003). Hudson River School: Masterworks from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Yale University Press. p. 30. ISBN   978-0-300-10116-4.
  6. Kurin 2016, p.  710.
  7. Kleiner, Fred S. (January 1, 2015). Gardner's Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition, Book E: Modern Europe and America. Cengage Learning. p. 814. ISBN   978-1-305-54493-2.
  8. Kriston (July 5, 2006). "Trout Fishing in America". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  9. Kurin 2016, pp. 248–249.
  10. "National Gallery Shows Long Lost Bierstadt Work". Deseret News. Associated Press. December 22, 1991. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  11. Hill, Edwin Charles; Porter, Bela James (1922). The Historical Register: A Biographical Record of the Men of Our Time who Have Contributed to the Making of America. Edwin C. Hill. pp. 10–14. OCLC   3010970.
  12. 1 2 3 Kurin 2016, p.  249.
  13. Kurin 2016, pp. 249–250.