The majestic beauty of the Rocky Mountains
By Bob Kirchman
All images by Public Domain
In “The Coming American,” Sam Walter Foss, an American poet, wrote:
Bring me men to match my mountains,
Bring me men to match my plains,
Men with empires in their purpose,
And new eras in their brains.
The great Western mountains of America were relatively uncharted in the mid 1800s. Far from the cities that paved over the natural world, the virgin landscapes—wild and pure—attracted the American romanticists and transcendentalists. Before the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, one would have to traverse the unforgiving landscapes and swim horseback through rivers— such a journey being the necessary and often miserable path between the cities and the wilderness.
American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt bridged the gap between the East and West. With a sense of the land’s raw beauty, promise, and power, he captured the spirit of the American West and offered a window into the majesty of the Rocky Mountains for those who would never peril the westward journey.
Sculpting an Artist
Albert Bierstadt was born on January 7, 1830, in the Westphalia town of Solingen (now a part of Germany). His parents immigrated to New Bedford, Massachusetts, when he was 1 year old. As a young boy, he was known for his fine drawing skills. In 1851, Bierstadt took up painting in oils, and just two years later, he returned to Europe, hoping to study at the Dusseldorf Academy.
Bierstadt applied to the school, but he didn’t get in. Undaunted, he became an apprentice of his friend Worthington Whittredge. Bierstadt studied informally with the Dusseldorf painters and honed his skills painting Alpine landscapes. Growing out of the German romantic movement, the school greatly influenced the painters of the Hudson River School. The school emphasized highly detailed landscapes, and many of the members were strong advocates of plein air painting, that is, working outside in the natural environment.
Returning to New Bedford in 1857, Bierstadt become a teacher of drawing and painting. That year, the Boston Athenaeum bought his painting The Portico of Octavia, Rome (1855), giving him funds to begin painting full time.
In 1858, he displayed an immense painting of a scene in Switzerland at the National Academy of Design (an honorary association of American artists). This painting earned him some acclaim as well as recognition by the National Academy. Bierstadt began his career as an American painter rendering scenes in New England and upstate New York, many in the Hudson River Valley, firmly establishing himself as a painter of the Hudson River school.
Westward Expeditions
In 1859, drawn by the Alpine scenery of the American West, Bierstadt joined the survey party of Frederick W. Lander, who was working for the United States government. He made extensive studies on the trip, which would become source material for his grand paintings, executed in his studio at the 10th Street Studio Building in New York.
In 1860, he was formally elected a member of the National Academy. His skills, honed in the mountains of Europe, would serve him well as he became the man many would consider “the preeminent painter of the western American landscape.”
In 1863, he headed west again. This time, he traveled with Fitz Hugh Ludlow, a colorful American author, journalist, and explorer. Ludlow was a man who lived large and died young (at age 34). It was Ludlow, acting in his capacity as art critic for the New York Evening Post, who established Bierstadt’s reputation as an American landscape artist.
Bierstadt was 33 when he set out with Ludlow and two other men on their journey. Ludlow wanted to document the journey. Bierstadt wanted to do studies for further paintings, and the others—two gentlemen named Hall and Durfee—came along just for the adventure. They arrived in Denver, Colorado, on June 8, 1863, and visited Pike’s Peak and the Garden of the Gods before setting out for Salt Lake City, Utah.
They traveled to California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. It was in Colorado that Albert Bierstadt climbed a mountain that would later bear his name. Today, the 14,065-foot Mount Bierstadt is a popular destination for hikers. Bierstadt made the first documented ascent to the summit on that trip.
He also went to the summit of Mount Evans, then unnamed, which he suggested be named Mount Rosalie after his future wife. His painting A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mount Rosalie, completed in 1866, hangs at the staggering size of nearly 7 feet by 12 feet and features an intense mass of clouds over the exaggerated peak. The mountain itself would be officially named Mount Evans, in honor of a Colorado governor.
A Luminous Painter
The grand landscapes Bierstadt depicted were vast on a scale that needed large canvases. The plains, waterways, and mountains in the West required nothing less.
As a luminist painter, Bierstadt used dramatic lighting in his compositions to accentuate the energy of the soaring landscapes. The exquisite use of light, the attention to detail, and the aerial perspective all work to convey a true sense of the wonder that is Western America.
His 1867 painting Emigrants Crossing the Plains captures well the spirit of that new land. In the painting, a group of settlers are moving toward a blazing evening sky. In the distance are towering cliffs bathed in evening light, and the land that lies before them is vast and flat. Trees frame the setting sun and delineate a water course where the settlers’ livestock can drink.
In his life, Bierstadt achieved great success and recognition. Napoleon III of France awarded him the Legion of Honor, which is the highest French order of merit. Although the artwork of American landscape painters fell out of favor during the rise of impressionism in the 20th century, Bierstadt’s paintings were preserved in museums and private collections following his death on February 18, 1902.
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN AMERICAN ESSENCE MAGAZINE.
