Albert Bierstadt: Luminous Landscapes 1830-1902
Albert Bierstadt was a German-American painter. Born in Soligen Germany in 1830, he moved to New Bedford Massachusetts in 1833. Bierstadt was part of the Hudson River School, a group of landscape painters. The style of the Hudson River School was illustrated by detailed paintings of landscapes with romantic lighting or luminism. Known primarily for his landscapes of the American West, Bierstadt made several artistic expeditions to the Westward Expansion of the United States in 1859. Along the way Albert took photographs and made sketches of the mountain ranges. The rock formations became the studies for his larger canvasses. In 1857 the Boston Athenaeum The Portico of Octavia Rome, which put him on the map. Bierstadt was the best painter of these scenes of the late 19th century. Most of his work was painted in his New York studio.
Bierstadt always loved the great outdoors. He travelled to the White Mountains in Washington State before he left for Dusseldorf, Germany. Bierstadt visited New Hampshire with his brother, Edward, working mainly in the then brand new medium of photography.
Bierstadt exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum from 1859 to 1864, at the Brooklyn Art Association from 1861 to 1879, and at the Boston Art Club from 1873 to 1880. He was a member of the National Academy of Design from 1860 to 1902. Bierstadt became renowned for his enormous scale paintings of the newly discovered rugged American West. His work was now in museums and private collections and sold at record prices. In 1867 he married. He and his new bride Rosalie travelled to London England. He met Queen Victoria who was a great admirer of his work. Rosalie needed to live in a hot climate due to her health. The newlywed couple moved to Nassau. Bierstadt began to paint the tropical outdoors of Nassau and added theses paintings to his canon of the great outdoors.
Bierstadt’s ultra romanticized landscapes of the American West and Nassau captured the minds of the art world. Bierstadt stayed straight at the top of the art market. Bierstadt was having tremendous financial success and was famous in the United States. However the critics never relented and he was never truly appreciated as an artistic talent. To make matters worse his studio was totally destroyed in a fire in 1882. By this time, Bierstadt’s popularity and wealth declined as the new Boston School and Impressionism was the new fad: no one was interested in landscapes anymore.
Bierstadt died in 1902 and the public forgot his work until the 1960's when it made resurgence back into the fickle world of art and design. Today, there are still Bierstadt paintings in many museums around the United States. Bierstadt's contribution to the public appreciation of the American outdoors is evident: Mount Bierstadt Colorado and Bierstadt Lake in Colorado are named after him.
Melissa Montgomery
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