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One of the best landscape painters of the mid-19th century to this day is Albert Bierstadt. His works are saturated with romance, the mesmerizing beauty of the American West. Many of them can be seen in the online art gallery albertbierstadt.org.
The best landscape painter in the American West
His work imprinted the beauty of the American landscape with its Native Americans and wild animals, Owens lake, mountain scenes, and giant redwood trees. The paintings brought impressive wealth to the author during his life. However, later his works received critical reviews about excessive dramatism, lighting, and the gamut of colors on the verge of expressionism.
But let’s take a look at the well-known works of Bierstadt and come to our own conclusions.
Albert Bierstadt can be called an American artist since it was America and the West that became the main motives of his famous paintings. However, the artist was born and received an art education in Europe. And the centuries-old traditions of European art schools, such as Düsseldorf and the Hudson River, influenced his work. Bierstadt approached romantically his work, the light almost shone through Albert Bierstadt paintings. His style of drawing and technique were later to be called luminism.
1. Evening Owens Lake California
Bierstadt painted many of his mountain scenes after his traveling to the West.
In 1859, Bierstadt, accompanying a land surveyor and a transcontinental United States explorer Frederick W. Lander, went on an expedition to the west of America for the first time. The expedition was supposed to go all the way along the Oregon Trail to California to explore the improvement of the mountain passes of the trails. On their way, they met many emigrants who returned to the East, not finding wealth in the gold mines of Colorado.
In the Evening Owens Lake California painting we see an ordinary evening in the bosom of nature. The sun sets over the horizon, the trees are lit by the glow of the outgoing day, water rests in its peaceful space. Only two birds at the water’s edge create the only feeling of liveliness in this landscape. It seems that people`s presence disturbed these lands only for a moment, and the wild world will continue to live its own life as before.
2. Rocky Mountain Landscape, 1870, in the White House
In 1863, Bierstadt went on another trip to the West. This time he was in the company of American journalist and researcher Fitz Hugh Ludlow. They spent seven weeks in the Yosemite Valley. During this time, the artist made many sketches and photographs, which he transferred to the canvas upon returning home. It was during this expedition that Alfred made sketches for his famous work Rocky Mountain Landscape, which appeared in 1870.
This picture was the result of several sketches of different landscapes. Some mountain peaks are more reminiscent of Alpine peaks, which the artist painted a lot while studying in Europe.
Looking at this picture, one gets the feeling that nature here is absolutely virgin and the author is the first and only contemplator of this secluded place. The family of deer in the foreground calmly stands without suspecting that they are no longer the only inhabitants of these open spaces.
The artist creates a diagonal effect. From the island of trees we follow to the mountain ranges to the right, and from them to the sharp peaks of the rocks, buried in transparent overhanging clouds in the middle of the landscape. Further, our eyes move to the glowing snow-capped mountain peaks. They are lit by the sun and represent the brightest part of the picture. And looking further down the picture, we cling to a thick cloud on the left, which hangs over the valley and returns us back to reality.
This landscape is painted in oil on canvas measuring more than sixty square feet. Now, this picture is the property of The White House Historical Association.
3. Giant Redwood Trees of California, 1874
https://www.albertbierstadt.org/Giant-Redwood-Trees-Of-California.html
As the expedition continued, Albert Bierstadt was intrigued by the Indians. Unlike most other Americans of the time, he didn’t consider them to be savages.
In this picture, the author paints an almost magical forest in soft lighting. Our gaze turns to the depths of this forest, it seems to go endlessly into the distance, showing the immensity and limitlessness of nature. The magnificent forest, for decades, living without the harmful influence of strangers, is a home for local residents. We observe a picture of the life and unity of huge trees and small people making homes under their protection.
It seems as though we are spying on the life of the local Indians, their well-established leisurely rhythm of life. On the edge of a rocky ledge, two are cooking, someone is returning to the fireplace with some catch.
Everything is perfect in this unity of man and nature. The American conqueror has not come here yet. The beauty of the red giant is still pure and powerful. It is us who know that later, huge tracts of giant trees would be cut down for the expansion of America. Later the indigenous people would be forced to leave their land and undergo slavery. Now, this picture reflects the idyll and unity of the local man with his house, a large red protecting forest.
The wide variety of wildlife that Bierstadt encountered during his expeditions, along with the beautiful landscapes and historical events of that time, will be invaluable for future art.
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