Albert Bierstadt

Infobox Artist
bgcolour =
name = Albert Bierstadt


imagesize = 90
caption = "Albert Bierstadt" by Napoleon Sarony
birthname =
birthdate = birth date|1830|01|08
location = Solingen, Germany
deathdate = death date and age|1902|2|18|1830|01|07|mf=y
deathplace =
nationality = German-American
field = painting
training = Düsseldorf School
movement = Hudson River School
works =
patrons =
influenced by =
influenced =William Bliss Baker
awards =

Albert Bierstadt (January 8 1830 - February 18 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his large landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion. Though not the first artist to record these sites, Bierstadt was the foremost painter of these scenes for the remainder of the 19th century.

Bierstadt was part of the Hudson River School, not an institution but rather an informal group of like-minded painters. The Hudson River School style involved carefully detailed paintings with romantic, almost glowing lighting, sometimes called "luminism".

Biography

Bierstadt was born in Solingen, Germany. His family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1833. He studied painting with the members of the Düsseldorf School in Düsseldorf, Germany from 1853 to 1857. He taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting himself to painting.

Bierstadt began making paintings in New England and upstate New York. In 1859, he traveled westward in the company of a Land Surveyor for the U.S. government, returning with sketches that would result in numerous finished paintings. In 1863 he returned West again, in the company of the author Fitz Hugh Ludlow, whose wife he would later marry. He continued to visit the American West throughout his career.

Though his paintings sold for princely sums, Bierstadt was not held in particularly high esteem by critics of his day. His use of uncommonly large canvases was thought to be an egotistical indulgence, as his paintings would invariably dwarf those of his contemporaries when they were displayed together. The romanticism evident in his choices of subject [ [http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=albert+bierstadt Albert Bierstadt Images] ] and in his use of light was felt to be excessive by contemporary critics. His paintings emphasized atmospheric elements like fog, clouds and mist to accentuate and complement the feel of his work. Bierstadt sometimes changed details of the landscape to inspire awe. The colors he used are also not always true. He painted what he believed is the way things should be: water is ultramarine, vegetation is lush and green, etc. The shift from foreground to background was very dramatic and there was almost no middle distance.Fact|date=December 2007

Nonetheless, his paintings remain popular. He was a prolific artist, having completed over 500 [ [http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/glenda/bierstadt/bierstadt.html xmission.com] ] (possibly as many as 4000) paintings during his lifetime, most of which have survived. Many are scattered through museums around the United States. Prints are available commercially for many. Original paintings themselves do occasionally come up for sale, at ever increasing prices.

Existing Work

* [http://www.chrysler.org/collections/bierstadt.jpgThe Emerald Pool, New Hampshire, ca. 1870] at the Chrysler Museum of Art
* [http://www.butlerart.com/pc_book/pages/albert_bierstadt_1830.htm "Oregon Trail, 1869"] at the Butler Institute of American Art
* [http://www.clevelandart.org/Explore/work.asp?accNo=221.1922 "Yosemite Valley, 1866"] at the Cleveland Museum of Art
* [http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/emuseum/code/emuseum.asp?style=browse&currentrecord=10&page=collection&profile=objects&searchdesc=WEB.American%20Art&newvalues=1&newstyle=single&newcurrentrecord=14 "Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast, 1870"] at the Seattle Art Museum
* [http://www.dia.org/the_collection/overview/viewobject.asp?objectid=34767 "The Wolf River, Kansas"] at the Detroit Institute of Arts
* [http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?coll_accession=&coll_name=&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_has_
] at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
* [http://americanart.si.edu/images/1967/1967.136.7_1a.jpg"Alaskan Coast Range, ca. 1889"] at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* [http://americanart.si.edu/images/1977/1977.107.1_1a.jpg"Among the Sierra Nevada, California, 1868 "] at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/gallery_images/domes_of_yosemite.htm "Domes of Yosemite"] ca. 1871 at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
* [http://americanart.si.edu/images/2006/2006.1.2_1a.jpg"Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley, ca. 1872 "] at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* [http://americanart.si.edu/images/2006/2006.1.1_1a.jpg"Gates of the Yosemite, ca. 1882 "] at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* [http://americanart.si.edu/images/1998/1998.148_1a.jpg"Indians in Council, California, ca. 1872 "] at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* [http://www.samuseum.org/collections/artwork.php?modal=1&id=81 "Passing Storm over the Sierra Nevadas ca. 1870 "] at the San Antonio Museum of Art
* [http://americanart.si.edu/images/1979/1979.98.440_1a.jpg"San Francisco Bay, 1871-1873 "] at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* [http://www.shop.com/0-p11508413-k36-g1-~albert+bierstadt%27s+the+rocky+mountains-nover-s.shtml "The Rocky Mountains"] at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
* [http://americanart.si.edu/images/1967/1967.136.8_1a.jpg"Sunrise in the Sierras, ca. 1872 "] at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* [http://www.gilcrease.org/images/Samples/0126.2305.jpg"Sierra Nevada Morning"] at the Gilcrease Museum

Also Mount Tampalais, located at the Parthenon museum in nashville Tenn.

Legacy

Because of Bierstadt's interest in mountain landscapes, Mount Bierstadt in Colorado is named in his honor. Another Colorado mountain was originally named Mount Rosa, after Bierstadt's wife, but it was later renamed Mount Evans after Colorado governor John Evans.

In 1998, the United States Postal Service issued a set of 20 commemorative stamps entitled "Four Centuries of American Art", one of which featured Albert Bierstadt's "The Last of the Buffalo". [ [http://www.artonstamps.org/Countries/USA/USArt-400.htm ArtOnStamps.org] ] In 2008, the USPS issued a commemorative stamp in its "American Treasures" series featuring Bierstadt's 1864 painting "Valley of the Yosemite." [ [http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10152&storeId=10001&categoryId=21902&productId=39451&langId=-1] ]

William Bliss Baker, another landscape artist, studied under Bierstadt.

Footnotes

ee also

*History of painting
*Western painting
*Edward Bierstadt
*List of Hudson River School artists

References

*Anderson, Nancy K. et. at. "Albert Bierstadt, Art & Enterprise", Hudson Hills Press, Inc.: New York, New York, 1990.
*Hendricks, Gordon. "Albert Bierstadt, Painter of the American West", Harrison House/Harry N. Abrams, Inc.: New York, New York 1988.

External links

* [http://whitemountainart.com/ArtistGalleries/gal_ab.htm White Mountain paintings by Albert Bierstadt]
* [http://www.hollistaggart.com/artists/bierstadt.htm Albert Bierstadt Biography and
]
* [http://mynptv.org/artsFeat/monamoments/mona42bierstadt.html Museum of Nebraska Art] MONA Moment
* [http://www.museumsyndicate.com/artist.php?artist=102 Gallery of Bierstadt's Paintings]
* [http://findingaid.winterthur.org/html/HTML_Finding_Aids/COL0276.htm The Winterthur Library] Overview of an archival collection on Albert Bierstadt.
* [http://www.albertbierstadt.org Albert Bierstadt Paintings Gallery] 345 images online
* The R.W. Norton Art Gallery: [http://www.rwnaf.org/albert_bierstadt.html Albert Bierstadt's Biography]