Friday, April 17, 2015

Art of the American West. The Oregon Trail. 1869. A-Z Challenge

                       The Oregon Trail.  Albert Bierstadt.(1830-1902)


Dover Publications, Mineola, New York.  American Art of the West.



Albert Bierstadt was a German born landscape artist, one of the Hudson River school of painters.  These painters glorified nature and his picturesque scenes of the natural wonders of the West captured the beauty of the American wilderness.

He was born in Solingen, Germany.  When he was two years old, his family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1853 he returned to Germany to study in Dusseldorf, where he practiced his art by painting Alpine landscapes. When he returned to America in 1857, he joined an overland survey company on their trip West.  Along the route, he sketched rock formations, mountain ranges,  took photographs, which became the huge paintings, with painstaking detail and dramatic lighting, which he painted in his New York studio.  

In 1867, he married and he and his new bride went to London.  When his wife needed a warmer climate, they moved to Nassau, the Bahamas, where he found new subjects for his painting, the tropics.

He died suddenly in 1902 and his popularity died with him until the 1960's when there was more interest in preserving American national landmarks, and his paintings began to be shown again.

He was a prolific artist, painting possibly as many as 4000 works, most have survived and are in many museums in the United States.


We have a mountain in Colorado that was named in his honor, Mount Bierstadt. Mount Bierstadt is one of our "fourteeners", 14, 065 feet tall, climbable for beginners.
http://www.albertbierstadt.org/biography.html



Mount Bierstadt   www.summitpost.org

15 comments:

  1. I love that painting. The sunset is amazing. The entire thing reeks of adventure and for a guy like me it sends sparks through my imagination.

    4000 works is incredible.

    Bushman
    2015 A to Z Challenge Ambassador
    @jwb81074

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  2. Can you imagine how it must have been for young men who explored the West when they first saw some of these areas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, just the vastness of the land?

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  3. Bierstadt is definitely one of my all time fave painters but I had no idea he lived in New Bedford. That's only 45 minutes from where I grew up!

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    1. Jo, that is where you received your creative genes!

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  4. 4000 paintings is some output. The painting captures a very romantic image.

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    1. One would have to paint all the time, but that is what true artists do, writers too.

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  5. This painting is so atmospheric. Production line painting!

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    Replies
    1. It looks old fashioned in a way. The Romantic era of painting, making paintings look peaceful, quiet and beautiful and very lush.

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  6. I love this painting. It reminds me of Turner in a way. As Nat said, it must have been wonderful to explore and open up the west.

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  7. I am a Turner fan. Did not see the movie but will purchase or try and get a copy at the library.

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  8. I agree that this is very Turneresque. I think that this is probably the most beautiful of the paintings in this series so far. When will you be climbing Mount Bierstadt Natasha?
    Turner, by coincidence, is the subject of my latest post.
    Listening to Victoria de Los Angeles, Sublime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omuJLzFyRYg
    CLICK HERE for Bazza’s fabulous Blog ‘To Discover Ice’ This music transports me in time and space!

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  9. Not soon, bazza. But my son has. Ah, youth! Will be checking your post and your music.

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  10. That painting is absolutely incredible. I'd love to have that hanging on my wall so I could see it every day.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Tossing It Out

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  11. What a great painting to pick. As I've never had art history classes, I enjoy learning about painters and their paintings. Thanks for sharing this!
    If you have time you should stop by and check out my O Post.

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  12. Hi Nat - what a great opportunity for him joining the overland surveying trail - and thank goodness his art has not been lost and so the lands as they were 150 years ago are still available to be seen. Fabulous art ... but I'll leave your 'easy' Bierstadt for another life ... !! I'm glad Bazza mentioned Turner .. that's what I thought .. the light and the colours ..

    Cheers Hilary

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