Albert Bierstadt
Born in Prussia in 1830, artist Albert Bierstadt migrated to the United States with his parents as a young child. He returned to Europe at age 23 and studied at the Dusseldorf School of Painting. His painting interests lay in expansive landscapes. He returned to the US and joined a railroad land survey party in 1859, journeying through the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains spending six months in the western US. He made sketches for his future paintings. Eastern viewers loved his portrayals of the West.
Apparently, a second trip west was cancelled due to the Civil War and infighting between settlers and the American Indians. Bierstadt came to San Francisco in the 1860s.
Bierstadt’s paintings of the Donner Summit area is what we focus on. Bierstadt made at least three notable paintings about the Donner area. He was keenly aware of the travails of the Donner Party, and critics attribute some of the darkness in his paintings to reflect this horrific historical event. Railroad King Collis P. Huntington commissioned Bierstadt to paint a picture of the view from Donner Summit – expecting of course, to see the completion of the transcontinental railroad as the crowning centerpiece in the painting. Instead, Huntington was disappointed with Bierstadt’s rendition. Bierstadt’s paintings are stunning with predominantly natural landscapes and a focus on scenery. It is said that Bierstadt added in the railroad tunnel to the right in the painting as an accommodation.
Surprisingly, in a Daily Alta California newspaper piece dated January 26, 1873, p. 4, there is an advertisement to include “all the Latest Works by our Local Artists; Bierstadt’s Donner Lake from the Summit.” Seems that California “adopted” Bierstadt as their own.
Donner Summit Historical Society in its March 2012 Heirloom issue has a wonderful article about the artist Albert Bierstadt that mentioned three other contemporary artists - Gilbert Munger, William Keith, and Thomas Hill. Since publication of DSHS’s article, there is a noteworthy 2015 Bierstadt “Teaching Aid” that is definitely worth exploring.
It is interesting to compare Bierstadt’s 1873 Donner Lake rendering with Thomas Hill’s of 1874, p. 23; or this Museum link). Recall Hill painted the “Last Spike”. Artists in this time period 1870s-1880s painted scenes of Donner Lake more than any other lake in the Sierra Nevada. Even though Lake Tahoe was much larger and equally as picturesque, it was the view from the summit looking over Donner Lake that offered a “dramatic, sublime vista layered with historical and symbolic significance”. (Nevada Museum of Art, 2015-2016 exhibition).
Next time you stop in at the Joseph Research Library, take some time to explore the book we have in our collection by Gordon Hendricks, Albert Bierstadt: Painter of the American West. And glance upwards in the Cabin to view the Bierstadt print on display. You will not be disappointed.
Apparently, a second trip west was cancelled due to the Civil War and infighting between settlers and the American Indians. Bierstadt came to San Francisco in the 1860s.
Bierstadt’s paintings of the Donner Summit area is what we focus on. Bierstadt made at least three notable paintings about the Donner area. He was keenly aware of the travails of the Donner Party, and critics attribute some of the darkness in his paintings to reflect this horrific historical event. Railroad King Collis P. Huntington commissioned Bierstadt to paint a picture of the view from Donner Summit – expecting of course, to see the completion of the transcontinental railroad as the crowning centerpiece in the painting. Instead, Huntington was disappointed with Bierstadt’s rendition. Bierstadt’s paintings are stunning with predominantly natural landscapes and a focus on scenery. It is said that Bierstadt added in the railroad tunnel to the right in the painting as an accommodation.
Surprisingly, in a Daily Alta California newspaper piece dated January 26, 1873, p. 4, there is an advertisement to include “all the Latest Works by our Local Artists; Bierstadt’s Donner Lake from the Summit.” Seems that California “adopted” Bierstadt as their own.
Donner Summit Historical Society in its March 2012 Heirloom issue has a wonderful article about the artist Albert Bierstadt that mentioned three other contemporary artists - Gilbert Munger, William Keith, and Thomas Hill. Since publication of DSHS’s article, there is a noteworthy 2015 Bierstadt “Teaching Aid” that is definitely worth exploring.
It is interesting to compare Bierstadt’s 1873 Donner Lake rendering with Thomas Hill’s of 1874, p. 23; or this Museum link). Recall Hill painted the “Last Spike”. Artists in this time period 1870s-1880s painted scenes of Donner Lake more than any other lake in the Sierra Nevada. Even though Lake Tahoe was much larger and equally as picturesque, it was the view from the summit looking over Donner Lake that offered a “dramatic, sublime vista layered with historical and symbolic significance”. (Nevada Museum of Art, 2015-2016 exhibition).
Next time you stop in at the Joseph Research Library, take some time to explore the book we have in our collection by Gordon Hendricks, Albert Bierstadt: Painter of the American West. And glance upwards in the Cabin to view the Bierstadt print on display. You will not be disappointed.
Albert Bierstadt, c. 1873, Donner Lake from the Summit. Note the railroad on the right side.
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Thomas Hill, Donner Lake, 1874.
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HCS 11/24/2019
