Images(2)

Yosemite Valley

Artist Albert Bierstadt (American, 1830 - 1902)

Datec. 1898

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions54 x 84 1/8 inches (137.2 x 213.7 cm)

Credit LinePurchase of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, 1978

Object number31.14.35

ClassificationsPaintings

DescriptionLarge scale horizontal oil painting depicting a vast valley landscape. A pair of deer occupy the right foreground. Behind them, trees give way to a large open valley floor from which rise daunting peaks. Bright white clouds curve around the peak at the center, both obscuring and exaggerating the additonal mountain peaks visible through the clouds in the right background. The mountains in the left background are cast in a deep blue shadow.

Label TextAlbert Bierstadt traveled to the Rocky Mountains and to California so he could sketch the American landscape firsthand. In his large studio paintings he idealized natural features and sometimes combined elements from different sites. Thus, he created sublime scenes that convey the power of nature and the grandeur of America.

ProvenanceArtist; by inheritance to his second wife Mary Hicks Steward Bierstadt [1837-1916]; acquired from the Estate of Mary Hicks Steward Bierstadt by H.D.G. Rohlfs, Jr., Brooklyn, New York; Augusta Muller, Scarsdale, New York; Private Collection, New York; acquired by (Gerald P. Peters Corporation, Santa Fe, New Mexico); purchased October 30, 1978 by the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art

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