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Lot Essay
Albert Bierstadt's paintings of the untamed American West are some of the most significant historical and artistic accomplishments of the nineteenth century. Other artists had made expeditions throughout the area as early as the 1830s, but Bierstadt was unrivaled in his ability to convey an image of this wondrous region to the American public. Painted from sketches of his trips west in the 1860s, Autumn depicts expansive grasslands populated by a herd of antelope. The light is rich and vivid, emphasizing Bierstadt's vision of the West as an untouched, American Eden.
As early as 1859 Bierstadt visited the famously rugged American West 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. Later, Bierstadt's 1863 journey overland to California provided him the pictorial material used to create some of his most successful works. Accompanied by Fitz Hugh Ludlow, a prominent figure in New York literary circles, Bierstadt traveled along the southern route arriving in San Francisco in July, 1863. 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 and its impressive display 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.
Bierstadt was captivated by the remarkable and raw American landscape. He described it in one of the many letters he sent back east for publication in The Crayon: "If you can form any idea of the scenery of the Rocky Mountains and of our life in this region, from what I have to write, I shall be very glad; there is indeed enough to write about--a writing lover of nature and Art could not wish for a better subject. I am delighted with the scenery...We see many spots in when we look up and measure the mighty perpendicular cliffs that rise hundreds of feet aloft, all capped with snow, we then realize that we are among a different class of mountains; and especially when we see the antelope stop to look at us, and still more the Indian, his pursuer, who often stands dismayed to see a white man sketching alone in the midst of his hunting grounds." (as quoted in G. Hendricks, "The First Three Western Journeys of Albert Bierstadt," The Art Bulletin, September 1964, p. 337)
In Autumn, Bierstadt prsents many of the glorious elements that he witnessed. The strong horizontals of the grasslands, mountains and open sky are balanced by the sturdy verticals of the large trees. The land is easily traversable, open and inviting. A golden light brings to this terrain a majesty and purity lending the overall composition the feeling of a Garden of Eden. As antelope majestically run through the grasslands, an almost divine light pervades the canvas. In the crystalline air, Bierstadt paints the details of the trees, mountains and grass with an eye towards creating an utterly placid, naturalistic scene of western splendor. The intricately detailed flowers of the immediate foreground and of the towering trees carries the viewer's eye to a more hazy and suggestive distance of unending natural beauty, emphasized by the herd of antelope receding into a seemingly ceaseless land. As in many of the artist's works, in the present painting, Bierstadt chose to paint a landscape without a hint of the presence of man: it was the untouched, primeval landscape that interested him most of all.
After viewing one of Bierstadt's paintings, a writer for The Crayon commented, "The scenery of this section of our territory has for a long time been a matter of curiosity to lovers of landscape, who have been excited yet not satisfied by the vague and contradictory reports of explorers. Through the better expression of the brush we can now form some idea of it, Mr. Bierstadt's pencil being true and too powerful to be questioned." (N.K. Anderson, "Wondrously Full of Invention: The Western Landscapes of Albert Bierstadt," Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise, Brooklyn, New York, 1990, p. 74) Among these achievements is Autumn, which stands out in Bierstadt's ouevre for the understated monumentality of the scene; choosing a wide vista, the artist elevates the landscape to grandeur in part with the sheer scale of the canvas. In contrast to his mountain scenery, Autumn offers an alternative vision of a pristine, magnificent landscape depicting quiet grasslands in autumn light.
Collectors, critics and the public at large found immediate appeal in Bierstadt's expansive compositions of the American West such as Autumn. These impressive works provided for Easterners a view of the West that was undergoing rapid exploration and that was the topic of considerable interest. This audience was stunned by the landscape's magnificence and they delighted in the artist's interpretation of these panoramic views. Elements seen in Autumn, such as the receding herd of antelope and the masterful use of light, provided further details which Bierstadt's Eastern audience came to enjoy and to expect in major compositions by the painter. A capable promoter of his own work, notes Linda Ferber, "Bierstadt effectively appropriated the American West, tapping public curiosity and excitement about these remote national territories. This interest was fueled, even during the apprehensive years of the Civil War, by the powerful idea of Manifest Destiny. The prevalent belief that Americans were divinely ordained masters of the continent lent special significance to Bierstadt's choice of subjects." ("Albert Bierstadt: The History of a Reputation," Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise, p. 25).
Bierstadt's synthesis of the broadly monumental and the finely detailed, of grand scale and the intimate moment and infinitely varying forms, places his work among the most successful expressions of the many paradoxes of nature. This expression, through Bierstadt's attention to detail and evocation of light, harmoniously brings together the spiritual and natural world. Like no artist before him, Bierstadt established himself as the pre-eminent painter with both the technique and the talent to convey the powerful visual impact of the Western landscape, to capture the mammoth scale of the open spaces and to begin to interpret this new American landscape in a manner equal to its majesty and grandeur.
In summarizing Bierstadt's achievement, Gordon Hendricks wrote that "his successes envelop us with the beauty of nature, its sunlight, its greenness, its mists, 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--to pass along some of his own passion for the wildness and beauty of the new West--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)
As early as 1859 Bierstadt visited the famously rugged American West 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. Later, Bierstadt's 1863 journey overland to California provided him the pictorial material used to create some of his most successful works. Accompanied by Fitz Hugh Ludlow, a prominent figure in New York literary circles, Bierstadt traveled along the southern route arriving in San Francisco in July, 1863. 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 and its impressive display 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.
Bierstadt was captivated by the remarkable and raw American landscape. He described it in one of the many letters he sent back east for publication in The Crayon: "If you can form any idea of the scenery of the Rocky Mountains and of our life in this region, from what I have to write, I shall be very glad; there is indeed enough to write about--a writing lover of nature and Art could not wish for a better subject. I am delighted with the scenery...We see many spots in when we look up and measure the mighty perpendicular cliffs that rise hundreds of feet aloft, all capped with snow, we then realize that we are among a different class of mountains; and especially when we see the antelope stop to look at us, and still more the Indian, his pursuer, who often stands dismayed to see a white man sketching alone in the midst of his hunting grounds." (as quoted in G. Hendricks, "The First Three Western Journeys of Albert Bierstadt," The Art Bulletin, September 1964, p. 337)
In Autumn, Bierstadt prsents many of the glorious elements that he witnessed. The strong horizontals of the grasslands, mountains and open sky are balanced by the sturdy verticals of the large trees. The land is easily traversable, open and inviting. A golden light brings to this terrain a majesty and purity lending the overall composition the feeling of a Garden of Eden. As antelope majestically run through the grasslands, an almost divine light pervades the canvas. In the crystalline air, Bierstadt paints the details of the trees, mountains and grass with an eye towards creating an utterly placid, naturalistic scene of western splendor. The intricately detailed flowers of the immediate foreground and of the towering trees carries the viewer's eye to a more hazy and suggestive distance of unending natural beauty, emphasized by the herd of antelope receding into a seemingly ceaseless land. As in many of the artist's works, in the present painting, Bierstadt chose to paint a landscape without a hint of the presence of man: it was the untouched, primeval landscape that interested him most of all.
After viewing one of Bierstadt's paintings, a writer for The Crayon commented, "The scenery of this section of our territory has for a long time been a matter of curiosity to lovers of landscape, who have been excited yet not satisfied by the vague and contradictory reports of explorers. Through the better expression of the brush we can now form some idea of it, Mr. Bierstadt's pencil being true and too powerful to be questioned." (N.K. Anderson, "Wondrously Full of Invention: The Western Landscapes of Albert Bierstadt," Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise, Brooklyn, New York, 1990, p. 74) Among these achievements is Autumn, which stands out in Bierstadt's ouevre for the understated monumentality of the scene; choosing a wide vista, the artist elevates the landscape to grandeur in part with the sheer scale of the canvas. In contrast to his mountain scenery, Autumn offers an alternative vision of a pristine, magnificent landscape depicting quiet grasslands in autumn light.
Collectors, critics and the public at large found immediate appeal in Bierstadt's expansive compositions of the American West such as Autumn. These impressive works provided for Easterners a view of the West that was undergoing rapid exploration and that was the topic of considerable interest. This audience was stunned by the landscape's magnificence and they delighted in the artist's interpretation of these panoramic views. Elements seen in Autumn, such as the receding herd of antelope and the masterful use of light, provided further details which Bierstadt's Eastern audience came to enjoy and to expect in major compositions by the painter. A capable promoter of his own work, notes Linda Ferber, "Bierstadt effectively appropriated the American West, tapping public curiosity and excitement about these remote national territories. This interest was fueled, even during the apprehensive years of the Civil War, by the powerful idea of Manifest Destiny. The prevalent belief that Americans were divinely ordained masters of the continent lent special significance to Bierstadt's choice of subjects." ("Albert Bierstadt: The History of a Reputation," Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise, p. 25).
Bierstadt's synthesis of the broadly monumental and the finely detailed, of grand scale and the intimate moment and infinitely varying forms, places his work among the most successful expressions of the many paradoxes of nature. This expression, through Bierstadt's attention to detail and evocation of light, harmoniously brings together the spiritual and natural world. Like no artist before him, Bierstadt established himself as the pre-eminent painter with both the technique and the talent to convey the powerful visual impact of the Western landscape, to capture the mammoth scale of the open spaces and to begin to interpret this new American landscape in a manner equal to its majesty and grandeur.
In summarizing Bierstadt's achievement, Gordon Hendricks wrote that "his successes envelop us with the beauty of nature, its sunlight, its greenness, its mists, 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--to pass along some of his own passion for the wildness and beauty of the new West--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)