Albert Bierstadt
On display now at Anthony's Fine Art & Antiques are a number of newly-discovered paintings of Utah by America's greatest landscape painter, Albert Bierstadt.
ALBERT BIERSTADT
(UTAH, 1830-1902)
Little Cottonwood Canyon, c. 1870
(UTAH, 1830-1902)
Little Cottonwood Canyon, c. 1870
Oil on canvas
37 x 29 in.
37 x 29 in.
“Truly all is remarkable and a wellspring of amazement and wonder. Man is so fortunate to dwell in this American Garden of Eden.” — Albert Bierstadt
Now widely considered America’s greatest landscape painter, Albert Bierstadt visited Utah numerous times between 1870 and 1900, making several of Utah’s natural wonders iconic landmarks in the American imagination. The location of this painting is at the entrance of Little Cottonwood Canyon where granite quarries are found. The granite from these quarries was sourced for the Salt Lake Temple. Little Cottonwood Canyon is also the location of the silver mines in Alta, where one of the country’s oldest ski resorts is, which was a pivotal site for the 2012 and 2034 Winter Olympics.
Born in Solingen, Prussia, Bierstadt emigrated to Massachusetts when he was one-year old. He returned to Germany at the age of 23 to study with Emmanuel Leutze, celebrated painter of Washington Crossing the Delaware. Although trained as a monumental figurative artist, in 1859 Bierstadt travelled as US Government surveyors’ team tasked with documenting land routes and natural resources in the little-known West.
Bierstadt’s subsequent paintings of the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Sierra Nevada defined the American vision of the West and led to the establishment of national parks in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and California. They can be found in the Smithsonian, Metropolitan Museum, Getty Center, and De Young collections; and reproduced en masse for over 100 years as stamps, posters, and puzzles.
During his many stays in Utah, Bierstadt also made many friends along the way, reportedly frequently staying at the home of George Q. Cannon — then a member of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — and taking painting expeditions with local artists.
Now widely considered America’s greatest landscape painter, Albert Bierstadt visited Utah numerous times between 1870 and 1900, making several of Utah’s natural wonders iconic landmarks in the American imagination. The location of this painting is at the entrance of Little Cottonwood Canyon where granite quarries are found. The granite from these quarries was sourced for the Salt Lake Temple. Little Cottonwood Canyon is also the location of the silver mines in Alta, where one of the country’s oldest ski resorts is, which was a pivotal site for the 2012 and 2034 Winter Olympics.
Born in Solingen, Prussia, Bierstadt emigrated to Massachusetts when he was one-year old. He returned to Germany at the age of 23 to study with Emmanuel Leutze, celebrated painter of Washington Crossing the Delaware. Although trained as a monumental figurative artist, in 1859 Bierstadt travelled as US Government surveyors’ team tasked with documenting land routes and natural resources in the little-known West.
Bierstadt’s subsequent paintings of the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Sierra Nevada defined the American vision of the West and led to the establishment of national parks in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and California. They can be found in the Smithsonian, Metropolitan Museum, Getty Center, and De Young collections; and reproduced en masse for over 100 years as stamps, posters, and puzzles.
During his many stays in Utah, Bierstadt also made many friends along the way, reportedly frequently staying at the home of George Q. Cannon — then a member of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — and taking painting expeditions with local artists.
ALBERT BIERSTADT
(UTAH, 1830-1902)
(UTAH, 1830-1902)
Wahsatch Mountains, Utah
Oil on board
13 x 18 in.
Private Collection
Bierstadt’s love of Utah and the Wasatch range are well documented. He came here numerous times between 1870 and 1900, making some of Utah’s natural wonders iconic landmarks in the American imagination. In reference to one of the visits Bierstadt made to Utah, an article from The Utah Mining Journal wrote, “Mr. Albert Bierstadt, the celebrated American landscape painter, separated from his companions going down to Salt Lake City, of the beauty of whose scenery and surroundings the eminent artist had convinced himself, on a former visit. Ever since the 20th of last month, he has been busy visiting all points of interest in the neighborhood of the capital of Utah. He paid especial attention to the magnificent scenery of the Cottonwoods and of American Fork Canyon, taking valuable sketches of all the romantic woodland scenes — the verdurous forest clades overtopped by sombre rock-giants and enlivened by rippling streams and roaring cataracts the boulder-strewn hill-sides and wild-rushing mountain-torrents, the picturesque farm-houses dotting peaceful and fertile vales and fields — over all the blue azure sky, now and then spotted with fleecy cirrhus clouds, or tapestried with wavy strato-cumulus clouds.
Mr. Bierstadt, most of the time, had in his company our promising home artist, Mr. Alfred Lambourne, in whom he discovered artistic talent of no common order. Mr. B. highly enjoyed his visit to Salt Lake City, and was greatly pleased with the kind and courteous reception he met on all sides…"
ALBERT BIERSTADT
(UTAH, 1830-1902)
After the Storm, Salt Lake Valley
(UTAH, 1830-1902)
After the Storm, Salt Lake Valley
Oil on board
13 x 18 in.
Private Collection
Albert Bierstadt visited Utah multiple times to paint the beautiful landscapes found here. In reference to one of those visits, an article from the Utah Mining Journal wrote, “The magnificent scenery in which Utah abounds has not escaped [Bierstadt’s] professional eye, and he proposed to ‘put on canvas’ several of our most gorgeous views. It is sunset on the Salt Lake, viewed from the plateau north of the city. For the variety and harmony of the elements of a perfect landscape scene, this view is hardly rivaled by any American scenery… It is a pleasure to know that we now have a Bierstadt of our picturesque scenery, and equally agreeable to know that we have scenery worth of his brush.”
