Natalee Wolfe
Visionary Spotlight
Welcome back to Visionary Spotlight. Last time , we talked about a wonderful woman named Frida Kahlo, a woman who did self portraits. While keeping the painting theme, this month, I would like to focus on a man who painted landscapes, specifically the American West.
Albert Bierstadt was born in Solingen, Germany on January 7th, 1830. Although he was born in Germany, his parents immigrated to Massachusetts when he was only one year old. His parents were named Christina and Henry Birtstadt. Albert had two brothers named Edward and Charles who were very prominent stereo view photographers. This means they used a camera that features two lenses spaced approximately the distance of the eyes that produced two pictures at the same time. As a child Albert loved to sketch with crayons creating drawings, this love for art is traced back to 1831.
In 1853 he returned to Germany to study painting in an informal art school in Düsseldorf. He soon returned to Massachusetts where he devoted himself to full time painting. In 1858, he exhibited a grand Swiss landscape painting to the National Academy of Design which gave him honorary membership into the Academy. Soon he started to paint wonderful works portraying New England and upstate New York. One of these include the Hudson River Valley. This made him a part of the Hudson River School.
In 1859 Albert started his journey across the U.S. to the West. He was accompanied by Frederick W. Lander, a land surveyor for the government. Albert wanted to see the western landscape for his work. He returned and made many sketches that then turned into the amazing paintings we know today. They were so good he was elected into being a member of the National Academy of Design. He received medals in Austria, Bavaria, Belgium , and Germany. His next trip was to Yosemite Valley with author Fitz Hugh Ludlow. The paintings that followed really cemented him as the painter for Western America.
During the Civil War, he was drafted and he created one painting commemorating his time. This painting was based on a picture his brother Edward had taken. Over the years, he traveled- painting more and more through the U.S. and Europe. He died on February 18th, 1902. In 1882, a fire torched Bierstadt’s studio in Irvington New York, permanently deleting many of his paintings. His remaining paintings are scattered throughout the United States, a lot of them being in New England and Washington D.C.
This artist was one of the greatest landscape painters of all time and was a true inspiration. Thanks for letting him have the spotlight, see you next month!- Natalee
Edited by Addison Rutherford
11/05/2024