Albert Bierstadt (American, 1830-1902). Evening, Owens Lake, California, circa 1870s. Oil on paper laid on canvas. 13-3/...

Description

Albert Bierstadt (American, 1830-1902)
Evening, Owens Lake, California, circa 1870s
Oil on paper laid on canvas
13-3/4 x 19 inches (34.9 x 48.3 cm)
Signed lower left: ABierstadt

Property of a Distinguished Gentleman

PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's, New York, December 6, 1984;
Alexander Gallery, New York, 1985;
Jerry Freeman, Fort Worth, Texas;
Roughton Galleries, Dallas;
Spanierman Gallery, New York, 2002;
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Evening, Owens Lake, California exemplifies Bierstadt's talent for capturing the raw, unadulterated, beauty of America's West, inspiring wonder as well as the desire for land conservation just as much today as when this work was executed well over a century ago.

Before the transcontinental railroad's completion in 1869, California was a place few Americans had been able to see firsthand, owing to the arduous journey required to reach it. Bierstadt's first trip there predated the influx of tourism, to be sure. But it was a location not entirely outside the public consciousness. As early as 1860, several small-scale stenographic images of Yosemite and other California wonders had circulated to East Coast audiences. However, as scholar Nancy K. Anderson has noted in her fine study, Albert Bierstadt: Art & Enterprise (1990), one of the major factors influencing Bierstadt's decision to set his sights on California and Yosemite was the exhibition of Carleton Watkins' (1829-1916) enormous photographic prints, which the painter saw both at Goupil's gallery in New York in December 1862 and in San Francisco. The New York Evening Post published a glowing review of Watkins' "unequaled" California photographs that had captured Bierstadt's imagination: "The views of lofty mountains, of gigantic trees, of falls of water which seem to descent from heights in the heavens and break into mists before reaching the ground, are indescribably unique and beautiful. Nothing in the way of landscape can be more impressive or picturesque." (cited in N. Anderson, New York, 1990, p. 79)

Bierstadt traveled on an extended trip out West in the summer of 1872, which included a return visit to the Yosemite region where he sketched Owens Valley, California. By 1913, the picturesque Owens River water was diverted to Los Angeles, eventually destroying Owen's Valley's rich agricultural economy. This conflict came to be known as the "California Water Wars."

Evening, Owens Lake, California is included in the Albert Bierstadt database being compiled by Melissa Webster Speidel in preparation for a Catalogue Raisonné of the artist's paintings.


More information about Albert Bierstadt. See also: Bierstadt, Albert Artist.



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