.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
As early as 1859, Albert Bierstadt visited the American West, a famously rugged territory at the time with Colonel Frederick Lander's U.S. Government Expedition. Traveling along the Platte River to the Wind River Mountains, the artist first witnessed the grandeur and beauty of the unspoiled western landscape. However, it was Bierstadt's 1863 journey overland to California which provided him the pictorial material used to create some of his most successful works. Accompanied by Fitz Hugh Ludlow, a prominent figure in the New York literary circles, Bierstadt traveled along the southern route arriving in San Francisco in July. After several days in the city, Bierstadt and Ludlow, also joined by Enoch Wood Perry and Virgil Williams, ventured to Yosemite via the Mariposa Grove of giant Sequoias. Camping and sketching for seven weeks, Bierstadt gathered ample material to complete several major oil paintings during the next eight years in New York.
In 1871, Bierstadt returned West aboard the recently completed transcontinental railroad. Immediately upon arrival in California, Bierstadt set out with Collin P. Huntington, the renowned railroad magnate, to the High Sierras to execute an additional series of
sketches for his masterwork Donner Lake from the Summit (1873, The New-York Historical Society, New York). After a brief trip back to New York, Bierstadt, throughout the winter, spring and summer of 1872, traveled to Yosemite and the High Sierra exploring the pristine valleys and canyons of the region. He returned to Yosemite Valley in June 1873 for his final trip to the area.
In the present painting of the Yosemite Valley, Bierstadt captures his awe at the wonders of the Cathedral Rocks. The distant peaks are depicted in fine detail on a clear, crystalline day. The precise reflection of the scene on the Merced River underscores the untouched beauty of the Western landscape, while the bright blue sky reflects the optimism inspired by such a scene. As epitomized by this work, Gordon Hendricks describes, “his successes envelop us with the beauty of nature, its sunlight, its greenness, its mist, its subtle shades, its marvelous freshness. All of these Bierstadt felt deeply. Often he was able, with the struggle that every artist knows, to put his feelings on canvas. When he succeeded in what he was trying to do…he was as good as any landscapist in the history of American art.” (Albert Bierstadt: Painter of the American West, New York, 1973, p. 10)
In 1871, Bierstadt returned West aboard the recently completed transcontinental railroad. Immediately upon arrival in California, Bierstadt set out with Collin P. Huntington, the renowned railroad magnate, to the High Sierras to execute an additional series of
sketches for his masterwork Donner Lake from the Summit (1873, The New-York Historical Society, New York). After a brief trip back to New York, Bierstadt, throughout the winter, spring and summer of 1872, traveled to Yosemite and the High Sierra exploring the pristine valleys and canyons of the region. He returned to Yosemite Valley in June 1873 for his final trip to the area.
In the present painting of the Yosemite Valley, Bierstadt captures his awe at the wonders of the Cathedral Rocks. The distant peaks are depicted in fine detail on a clear, crystalline day. The precise reflection of the scene on the Merced River underscores the untouched beauty of the Western landscape, while the bright blue sky reflects the optimism inspired by such a scene. As epitomized by this work, Gordon Hendricks describes, “his successes envelop us with the beauty of nature, its sunlight, its greenness, its mist, its subtle shades, its marvelous freshness. All of these Bierstadt felt deeply. Often he was able, with the struggle that every artist knows, to put his feelings on canvas. When he succeeded in what he was trying to do…he was as good as any landscapist in the history of American art.” (Albert Bierstadt: Painter of the American West, New York, 1973, p. 10)