12 Works, Today, January 7th is Albert Bierstadt's day, his story illustrated #007

Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902)

Study for "The Last of the Buffalo", circa 1888

Oil on canvas

Height: 62.9 cm (24.7 in); Width: 91.1 cm (35.8 in)

M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco

Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was born in Prussia, but his family moved to the United States when he was one year old. In 1851, Bierstadt returned to study painting for several years in Düsseldorf. He became part of the second generation of the Hudson River School in New York, painters who started painting along the Hudson River. Their style was based on carefully detailed paintings with romantic, almost glowing lighting, sometimes called luminism. Bierstadt was an important interpreter of the western landscape, and he is also grouped with the Rocky Mountain School.

In 1857, he taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting himself full-time to painting.

Albert Bierstadt, American, 1830 - 1902

Lake Lucerne, c.1858

Oil on canvas

182.9 x 304.8 cm (72 x 120 in.)

: 235.3 x 359.4 x 17.2 cm (92 5/8 x 141 1/2 x 6 3/4 in.)

The National Gallery of Art 

Bierstadt's painting offers a sweeping view of Lake Lucerne with the village of Brunnen in the middle distance and the alpine peaks Ematten, Oberbauen, Uri–Rotstock and St. Gotthard in the distance. Though an image of mountain grandeur, Lake Lucerne also contains numerous pastoral vignettes—a harvest scene near the center, a religious procession at the right, and a camp of Roma people at the left. More on this painting

Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902)

Swiss Mountain Scene, c. 1859

Oil on canvas

Height: 59.7 cm (23.5 in); Width: 84.8 cm (33.3 in)

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University in Ithaca, New York

In 1858, Bierstadt exhibited a large painting of a Swiss landscape at the National Academy of Design, which gained him positive critical reception and honorary membership in the Academy. Bierstadt began painting scenes in New England and upstate New York.

Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902)

The Emerald Pool, c. 1870

Oil on canvas

Height: 194.3 cm (76.4 in); Width: 302.3 cm (119 in)

Chrysler Museum of Art,  Norfolk, Virginia

A landscape depicting a scene of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. A dark pool of water in the foreground is surrounded by trees: the scene takes place around the end of summer because of the bright greens, yellows, and reds in the trees. Mountains appear in the background. More on this painting

In 1859, Bierstadt traveled westward in the company of Frederick W. Lander, a land surveyor for the U.S. government, to see those western American landscapes for his work. He returned with sketches for numerous paintings he then finished. In 1860, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Design; he received medals in Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, and Germany.

In 1863, Bierstadt traveled West again, where he spent seven weeks in the Yosemite Valley. Throughout the 1860s, Bierstadt used studies from this trip as the source for large-scale paintings for exhibition and he continued to visit the American West throughout his career. The immense canvases he produced after his trips established him as the preeminent painter of the western American landscape. 

Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902)

Guerrilla Warfare, c. 1862

Oil on panel

39.3 × 47.3 cm (15.5 × 18.6 in)

Century Association, Manhattan, New York

Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902)

Detail; Guerrilla Warfare, c. 1862

Oil on panel

39.3 × 47.3 cm (15.5 × 18.6 in)

Century Association, Manhattan, New York

During the American Civil War (1861 to 1865), Bierstadt was drafted in 1863 and paid for a substitute to serve in his place. By 1862, he had completed one Civil War painting Guerrilla Warfare, Civil War based on his brief experiences with soldiers stationed at Camp Cameron in 1861. 

Albert Bierstadt (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York)

The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, c. 1863

Oil on canvas

73 1/2 x 120 3/4 in. (186.7 x 306.7 cm)

St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, St. Johnsbury, VT

Albert Bierstadt (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York)

Detail of lower left; The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, c. 1863

Oil on canvas

73 1/2 x 120 3/4 in. (186.7 x 306.7 cm)

St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, St. Johnsbury, VT

Albert Bierstadt (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York)

Detail of lower right; The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, c. 1863

Oil on canvas

73 1/2 x 120 3/4 in. (186.7 x 306.7 cm)

St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, St. Johnsbury, VT

Painted in New York after Bierstadt’s return, this work advertised the landscape as a frontier destined to be claimed by White settlers, according to the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. This belief that Americans were the divinely ordained "masters" of the continent systematically ignored with dire consequences the presence of Indigenous populations, such as the Shoshone peoples depicted in the picture’s foreground. More on this painting

Financial recognition confirmed his status: The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, completed in 1863, was purchased for $25,000 in 1865, the equivalent of almost $400,000 in 2020.

Artist Albert Bierstadt (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York)

Merced River, Yosemite Valley, c. 1866

Oil on canvas

36 x 50 in. (91.4 x 127 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

On May 12, 1863, in the company of the journalist and explorer Fitz Hugh Ludlow. From the many studies Bierstadt made during the trip, he painted several large works back in his New York studio. In this canvas, monumental, jagged peaks dwarf a group of foreground figures, likely depicting members of Yosemite’s Indigenous population, who inhabited the valley for millennia prior to Bierstadt’s arrival. More on this painting

In 1867, Bierstadt traveled to London, where he exhibited two landscape paintings in a private reception with Queen Victoria. He traveled through Europe for two years, cultivating social and business contacts to sustain the market for his work overseas. 

Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902)

Among the Sierra Nevada, California, c. 1868

Oil on canvas

Height: 1,828.80 mm (72 in); Width: 3,051.30 mm (10.01 ft)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Bierstadt painted Among the Sierra Nevada, California in his Rome studio. He then showed the canvas through Europe to St. Petersburg, fueling Europeans’ interest in emigration, before shipping it to the United States. Works such as this fueled the image of America as a promised land just when Europeans were immigrating to this country in great numbers. More on this painting

He painted Among the Sierra Nevada, California in his Rome studio for example, showed it in Berlin and London before shipping it to the U.S. As a result of the publicity generated by his Yosemite Valley paintings in 1868, Bierstadt's presence was requested by every explorer considering a westward expedition, and he was commissioned by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to visit the Grand Canyon for further subject matter.

Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902)

The Last of the Buffalo,  circa 1888

Oil on canvas

Height: 62.9 cm (24.7 in); Width: 91.1 cm (35.8 in)

Private collection

Following his first trip west in 1859, Bierstadt featured Native peoples and American bison as prominent subjects in his art. In paintings both large and small, Bierstadt strove to preserve the dignity of cultures like the Sioux and Shoshone and advocated for the protection of bison in the West.

Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902)

Indians in Council, California, circa 1872

Oil on canvas

Height: 40.4 cm (15.9 in); Width: 55.5 cm (21.8 in)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Despite his popular success, Bierstadt was criticized by some contemporaries for the romanticism evident in his choices of subject and his use of light was felt to be excessive. Some critics objected to Bierstadt's paintings of Native Americans on the grounds that Indians "marred" the "impression of solitary grandeur."

Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902)

The Shore of the Turquoise Sea, c. 1878

Oil on canvas

Height: 108 cm (42.5 in); Width: 163.8 cm (64.4 in)

Manoogian Collection, Detroit, United States of America

In 1876, his wife was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and from then until her death in 1893, Bierstadt spent time with her in the warmer climate of Nassau in the Bahamas. He also continued to travel to the West and Canada. In later life, Bierstadt's work fell increasingly out of critical favor. 

In 1882, a fire destroyed Bierstadt's studio at Irvington, New York, and with it many of his paintings. By the time of his death on February 18, 1902, the taste for epic landscape painting had long since subsided. Bierstadt was then largely forgotten. He was buried at the Rural Cemetery in New Bedford, Massachusetts. More on Albert Bierstadt

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