Born
in Germany, Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) was two years old when his
family emigrated to America. Though he returned to his homeland to
study painting and began establishing his reputation as a landscape
painter with European scenes, Bierstadt became internationally renowned
for his paintings of the unsettled American West.
A
second generation member of The Hudson River School, Bierstadt
initially made sketching trips to the White Mountains and Newport in
New England, but beginning in 1859, he made three trips west, each time
making oil sketches which he used as the basis for often large scaled
panoramic views of Western scenery. Bierstadt created luminous,
detailed but romanticized paintings that interpreted the American
wilderness as a manifestation of the sublime. His works found their way
into public and private collections at staggeringly high prices for his
time, but as the nineteenth century drew to a close, interest in his
work waned, eventually forcing him into bankruptcy. Time, however, has
renewed interest in Bierstadt’s art, and he is now regarded as one of
the greatest landscape artists in history.
A second generation member of The Hudson River School, Bierstadt initially made sketching trips to the White Mountains and Newport in New England, but beginning in 1859, he made three trips west, each time making oil sketches which he used as the basis for often large scaled panoramic views of Western scenery. Bierstadt created luminous, detailed but romanticized paintings that interpreted the American wilderness as a manifestation of the sublime. His works found their way into public and private collections at staggeringly high prices for his time, but as the nineteenth century drew to a close, interest in his work waned, eventually forcing him into bankruptcy. Time, however, has renewed interest in Bierstadt’s art, and he is now regarded as one of the greatest landscape artists in history.
No comments:
Post a Comment