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Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite (work of art)

Artwork Info

Created
circa 1871-73
Nationality
American (born Germany)
Birth/Death
1830-1902
Dimensions
36 1/8 x 26 3/8 in.
(91.8 x 67.0 cm)
Medium
Painting

Credit

Purchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest) and various donors, by exchange

Culture
American

About

German-born Albert Bierstadt gave definitive expression to America’s westward expansion in the 1860s and 1870s. His vast panoramas of the Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountains introduced Americans to a majestic wilderness, awesome and exhilarating, and well worth possessing. The artist found his greatest subject in California’s Yosemite Valley and Bridal Veil Falls, which he first visited in the summer of 1863. So spectacular was the remote and secluded valley that Bierstadt referred to it as the Garden of Eden. His many paintings of Yosemite are indeed biblical in their grandeur. Widely exhibited, they helped awaken the nation to the need to preserve such natural wonders. Bierstadt’s vision of the American West inspired later generations of artists—most notably the photographer Ansel Adams.

tags: weather, water, landscape, ecology, nature

Images

  • Bierstadt Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite

    Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite