"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.
Oil on canvas
37 x 29 in.
Price Upon Request
