Albert Bierstadt | Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, CaliforniaCalifornia, 1868Some Hudso

Albert Bierstadt | Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, CaliforniaCalifornia, 1868Some Hudson River artists used the landscape genre as an allegorical vehicle to address moral and spiritual concerns.  Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) traveled west in 1858 and produced many paintings depicting the Rocky Mountains, Yosemite Valley, and other dramatic locales. These works, such as Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, present breathtaking scenery and natural beauty. This panoramic view (the painting is 10 feet wide) is awe-inspiring.  To underscore the almost transcendental nature of this scene, Bierstadt depicted the sun’s rays breaking through the clouds overhead, which suggests a heavenly consecration of the land. That Bierstadt’s focus was the American West is not insignificant. By calling national attention to the splendor and uniqueness of the regions beyond the Rocky Mountains, Bierstadt’s paintings reinforced the idea of Manifest Destiny. (Read More Now does not work here) This popular 19th-century doctrine held that westward expansion across the continent was the logical destiny of the United States. As John L. O’Sullivan (1813–1895) expounded in the earliest known use of the term in 1845, “Our manifest destiny [is] to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” Paintings of the scenic splendor of the West helped to mute growing concerns over the realities of conquest, the displacement of Native Americans, and the exploitation of the environment. It should come as no surprise that among those most eager to purchase Bierstadt’s work were mail-service magnates and railroad builders—entrepreneurs and financiers involved in westward expansion. (x) -- source link

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