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Albert Bierstadt, Cho-looke, the Yosemite Fall, 1864
Albert Bierstadt’s art is not exciting. However, maybe Bierstadt’s “traditional” paintings of nature were breathtaking before photography, TV, and traveling to beautiful landscapes by car. Bierstadt (1830-1902) was born in Germany and was a painter who emulated the Hudson Valley School of painters. The Hudson Valley School painted the natural beauty of the Hudson River Valley. He painted all over America but became famous for his Yosemite paintings. His style of painting was reliant on the masters that preceded him, romanticists like Friedrich and Turner and even Dutch landscape painters. Bierstadt’s painting style was not on the cutting edge of art when he painted Cho-looke, the Yosemite Falls in 1864. Painters like Courbet and Manet were breaking the formal bonds of painting. Even his subject matter was not groundbreaking; American scene painting had been around for 100 years. His frontier was the reality of the beauty of the west. Bierstadt captured the beauty of California to help people see the value of preserving the wilderness and that Manifest Destiny was what God wanted for the United States. Why else would it be so beautiful? |
“…Albert Bierstadt[’s] … vision of wilderness does not elicit insecurity; it is Eden, whose God is an American god whose gospel is Manifest Destiny.”
http://www.wilderness.net/carhart/manual/9-12/4_whole.pdf
In 1861, Bierstadt and a friend went to a Union army camp near Washington to paint Civil War scenes, and in 1863, he painted The Bombardment of Fort Sumter. He painted in New Hampshire and had abolitionist friends. The Secretary of war also sent him to the west to paint. He obviously was on the side of the north, was against slavery, and wanted to help the north sell the need to move west in the name of Manifest Destiny or war propaganda.
Bierstadt was drafted in 1863 but paid $300 not to serve. He instead traveled around California and Oregon with his friend and his wife.
After the Yosemite paintings, Bierstadt became famous selling many paintings and drawings from San Francisco to New York. Like many artists, he had a gimmick. Might he have been an
Environmentalist? Abolitionist? I think he wanted to be a successful artist, uninterested in modernism, originality, and developing a new style. Rather, his frontier was visualizing the beauty of Yosemite. Imagine camping in Yosemite Valley with no hotels, campground, or souvenir stands. That was his frontier; he was at the forefront of the nature tourist.
http://www.wilderness.net/carhart/manual/9-12/4_whole.pdf
In 1861, Bierstadt and a friend went to a Union army camp near Washington to paint Civil War scenes, and in 1863, he painted The Bombardment of Fort Sumter. He painted in New Hampshire and had abolitionist friends. The Secretary of war also sent him to the west to paint. He obviously was on the side of the north, was against slavery, and wanted to help the north sell the need to move west in the name of Manifest Destiny or war propaganda.
Bierstadt was drafted in 1863 but paid $300 not to serve. He instead traveled around California and Oregon with his friend and his wife.
After the Yosemite paintings, Bierstadt became famous selling many paintings and drawings from San Francisco to New York. Like many artists, he had a gimmick. Might he have been an
Environmentalist? Abolitionist? I think he wanted to be a successful artist, uninterested in modernism, originality, and developing a new style. Rather, his frontier was visualizing the beauty of Yosemite. Imagine camping in Yosemite Valley with no hotels, campground, or souvenir stands. That was his frontier; he was at the forefront of the nature tourist.