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Lot Essay
This work will be included in Stephen L. Good's and Phyllis Braff's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work.
Of all the places that Thomas Moran visited in the American West, Yellowstone had the greatest impact on the artist. Moran reflected, “I have wandered over a good part of the Territories and have seen much of the varied scenery of the Far West, but that of the Yellowstone retains its hold upon my imagination with a vividness as of yesterday…The impression then made upon me by the stupendous and remarkable manifestations of nature’s forces will remain with me as long as memory lasts.” (as quoted in C. Clark, Explorers of the West, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1997, p. 27) Index Peak, Yellowstone, Wyoming manifests Moran’s profound veneration and wonder in an awe-inspiring image capturing the unique grandeur of the region. Essential to establishing the public’s appreciation of Yellowstone and its importance to America's national heritage, Moran’s Yellowstone paintings have been celebrated for over a century for their ability to inspire an emotional appreciation for the wonder that is the Western landscape.
Moran first traveled to Yellowstone with Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, Director of the United States Geological Survey, on a surveying expedition in 1871. Upon his return home to his East Coast studio, Moran set about creating finished compositions based on fellow traveler William Henry Jackson’s photographs and his own hurried field studies, which were often just contour lines with numerous annotations. Moran would rely on these materials, as well as his powerful memory of his initial experience in Yellowstone, over the course of his long career. Importantly, many of these same sketches would prove instrumental in Congress’ decision to make Yellowstone America’s first National Park on March 1, 1872.
Moran returned to Yellowstone two decades later in 1892, traveling with Jackson and his assistant Millet on a commission from the new state of Wyoming, established in 1890, for the upcoming Chicago World’s Fair. After a treacherous journey, the party finally reached Devils Tower and met members of Elwood Mead’s expedition to travel across the Bighorn Mountains to enter Yellowstone at its northeast corner. As they approached Mammoth Hot Springs, Moran made a sketch of Index Peak on July 18, 1892. Thurman Wilkins describes, “Another week found the party west of the Bighorn Basin, facing the blue wall of the Absaroka Mountains, from a point south of Clarks Fork of Yellowstone River and on the sixteenth Moran sketched a 'Peak on Sunshine Fork.' The range was thick with spruce and pine and fir, through which they climbed, crossing the divide, to camp the next day on Soda Butte Creek, a branch of the East Fork of the Yellowstone River. They now followed a road built by a mining company, and on the eighteenth Moran made a sketch of Index Peak, near the eastern boundary of the park." (Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains, Norman, Oklahoma, 1998, p. 270)
In Index Peak, Yellowstone, Wyoming, Moran builds upon his sketches and experiences to present a breathtaking panorama of the east of Yellowstone National Park. Taking a high vantage point, he highlight the vastness of the scenery, as in his most accomplished views of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. A dramatic color palette of purples, greens and blues captures not only the play of light and shadow on the topography, but moreover the special atmosphere of the place. Enhancing the natural awesomeness of the Yellowstone scenery with his own artistic abilities, Moran captures the imagination of his audience with the splendor of the American landscape.
As such, Index Peak, Yellowstone, Wyoming joins Moran’s accomplished paintings of numerous other celebrated places throughout the West. In addition to the present depiction of Index Peak, at this time Moran explored a series of unique locales outside of his norm, apparently deeming them important for his viewers to appreciate, including the nearby Devil’s Tower, Wyoming; the Garden of the Gods, Colorado; the cliffs of the Zion area, Utah; and the Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna, New Mexico. By establishing the importance of these subjects through his majestic depictions, Moran undoubtedly contributed to a broad appreciation that was central to early conservation and preservation efforts in America. As Carol Clark writes, "Moran's western canvases and watercolors depicted areas of great significance to the American public; they conferred historical legitimacy to a land lacking human associations and presented a stage for the unfolding drama of a nation's future…As America viewed her land, especially the West, as part of a natural historical past destined to determine a great future, Americans began to accept landscape painting in oil and watercolor as an integral and formative element of this destiny.” (Thomas Moran: Watercolors of the American West, Austin, Texas, 1980, p. 35)
Of all the places that Thomas Moran visited in the American West, Yellowstone had the greatest impact on the artist. Moran reflected, “I have wandered over a good part of the Territories and have seen much of the varied scenery of the Far West, but that of the Yellowstone retains its hold upon my imagination with a vividness as of yesterday…The impression then made upon me by the stupendous and remarkable manifestations of nature’s forces will remain with me as long as memory lasts.” (as quoted in C. Clark, Explorers of the West, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1997, p. 27) Index Peak, Yellowstone, Wyoming manifests Moran’s profound veneration and wonder in an awe-inspiring image capturing the unique grandeur of the region. Essential to establishing the public’s appreciation of Yellowstone and its importance to America's national heritage, Moran’s Yellowstone paintings have been celebrated for over a century for their ability to inspire an emotional appreciation for the wonder that is the Western landscape.
Moran first traveled to Yellowstone with Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, Director of the United States Geological Survey, on a surveying expedition in 1871. Upon his return home to his East Coast studio, Moran set about creating finished compositions based on fellow traveler William Henry Jackson’s photographs and his own hurried field studies, which were often just contour lines with numerous annotations. Moran would rely on these materials, as well as his powerful memory of his initial experience in Yellowstone, over the course of his long career. Importantly, many of these same sketches would prove instrumental in Congress’ decision to make Yellowstone America’s first National Park on March 1, 1872.
Moran returned to Yellowstone two decades later in 1892, traveling with Jackson and his assistant Millet on a commission from the new state of Wyoming, established in 1890, for the upcoming Chicago World’s Fair. After a treacherous journey, the party finally reached Devils Tower and met members of Elwood Mead’s expedition to travel across the Bighorn Mountains to enter Yellowstone at its northeast corner. As they approached Mammoth Hot Springs, Moran made a sketch of Index Peak on July 18, 1892. Thurman Wilkins describes, “Another week found the party west of the Bighorn Basin, facing the blue wall of the Absaroka Mountains, from a point south of Clarks Fork of Yellowstone River and on the sixteenth Moran sketched a 'Peak on Sunshine Fork.' The range was thick with spruce and pine and fir, through which they climbed, crossing the divide, to camp the next day on Soda Butte Creek, a branch of the East Fork of the Yellowstone River. They now followed a road built by a mining company, and on the eighteenth Moran made a sketch of Index Peak, near the eastern boundary of the park." (Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains, Norman, Oklahoma, 1998, p. 270)
In Index Peak, Yellowstone, Wyoming, Moran builds upon his sketches and experiences to present a breathtaking panorama of the east of Yellowstone National Park. Taking a high vantage point, he highlight the vastness of the scenery, as in his most accomplished views of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. A dramatic color palette of purples, greens and blues captures not only the play of light and shadow on the topography, but moreover the special atmosphere of the place. Enhancing the natural awesomeness of the Yellowstone scenery with his own artistic abilities, Moran captures the imagination of his audience with the splendor of the American landscape.
As such, Index Peak, Yellowstone, Wyoming joins Moran’s accomplished paintings of numerous other celebrated places throughout the West. In addition to the present depiction of Index Peak, at this time Moran explored a series of unique locales outside of his norm, apparently deeming them important for his viewers to appreciate, including the nearby Devil’s Tower, Wyoming; the Garden of the Gods, Colorado; the cliffs of the Zion area, Utah; and the Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna, New Mexico. By establishing the importance of these subjects through his majestic depictions, Moran undoubtedly contributed to a broad appreciation that was central to early conservation and preservation efforts in America. As Carol Clark writes, "Moran's western canvases and watercolors depicted areas of great significance to the American public; they conferred historical legitimacy to a land lacking human associations and presented a stage for the unfolding drama of a nation's future…As America viewed her land, especially the West, as part of a natural historical past destined to determine a great future, Americans began to accept landscape painting in oil and watercolor as an integral and formative element of this destiny.” (Thomas Moran: Watercolors of the American West, Austin, Texas, 1980, p. 35)