Biography
Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not the first artist to record the sites, but he was the foremost painter of them for the remainder of the 19th century.
Bierstadt was born in Prussia, but his family moved to the United States when he was one year old. In 1851, Bierstadt began to paint in oils. He returned to Germany in 1853 and studied painting for several years in Düsseldorf with members of its informal school of painting. After returning to New Bedford in 1857, he taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting himself full-time to painting.
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, including in the Hudson River Valley. Painters in this Hudson River School style created carefully detailed paintings with romantic, almost glowing lighting, sometimes called luminism.
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 and make sketches for his work. He returned to a studio he had taken at the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York to complete several paintings from these sketches. In 1860, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Design. He also received medals in Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, and Germany.
In 1863, Bierstadt traveled West again, this time in the company of the author Fitz Hugh Ludlow. The pair spent seven weeks in the Yosemite Valley. Throughout the 1860s, Bierstadt used more 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 with Lander and Ludlow established him as the preeminent painter of the western American landscape. Bierstadt’s technical proficiency, earned through his study of European landscape, was crucial to his success as a painter of the American West and accounted for his popularity in introducing views of the Rocky Mountains to many for the first time.
In 1867, Bierstadt returned to Europe, arriving in London where he exhibited two landscape paintings in a private reception with Queen Victoria. He then travelled through Europe for the next two years, painting new works while also cultivating social and business contacts to sustain the market for his art on the continent. For example, he painted Among the Sierra Nevada, California in his Rome studio, displaying it in Berlin and London before having it shipped to the U.S. His exhibition pieces both impressed European audiences and furthered the idea of the American West as a land of promise during a period when European emigration to the U.S. was increasing. Bierstadt’s choice of grandiose subjects was matched by his entrepreneurial flair for generating interest in his exhibitions.
Bierstadt’s popularity in the U.S. remained strong during his European tour. The publicity generated by his Yosemite Valley paintings in 1868 led a number of explorers to request his presence as part of their westward expeditions. The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad also commissioned him to visit and paint the Grand Canyon and surrounding region.
Because of Bierstadt’s interest in mountain landscapes, Mount Bierstadt and Bierstadt Lake in Colorado are named in his honor. Bierstadt was probably the first European to visit the summit of Mount Blue Sky in 1863, 1.5 miles from Mount Bierstadt.
Nationality:
American, German
Dates:
January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902
Occupation:
Painter
Schools attended:
Düsseldorf Academy
Taught at:
Student of:
Teacher of:
Group / Movement:
Hudson River School, Düsseldorf School, Rocky Mountain School, National Academy of Design