Yosemite Stream
Albert Bierstadt, American (born Germany), 1830 - 1902
about 1870
Oil on paper on board
Overall: 12 1/4 × 9 3/8 in. (31.1 × 23.8 cm)
Frame: 18 1/4 × 15 1/2 in. (46.4 × 39.4 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through a gift from Evelyn A. and William B. Jaffe, Class of 1964H, by exchange, in honor of Barbara J. MacAdam, Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art, 1983-2020
2021.31
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
19th century
Object Name
Painting
Research Area
Painting
Not on view
Label
Albert Bierstadt was one of many artists paid by the U.S. Department of War to join 19th-century expeditions to map the American West. This small oil sketch—likely painted from life on one of these surveys—provided inspiration for Bierstadt’s larger canvases painted in his New York studio, which were often similar in size and scale to Gignoux’s New Hampshire landscape to your right. Bierstadt’s paintings helped construct the mythic identity of the American West, displaying the landscape as open for discovery, exploration, and settlement, despite Yosemite’s continued inhabitance by the Ahwahnechee people.
From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
In 1859 Emanuel Leutze introduced his former student Albert Bierstadt to John Floyd, the US Secretary of War. After this meeting, Bierstadt became one of many artists the Department of War paid to help map the American West. He likely painted this small oil sketch from life on a survey in California’s Yosemite Valley.
Bierstadt’s studies inspired his larger-scale paintings made entirely in his New York studio. The beauty of his landscapes helped construct the myth of an uninhabited American West. This work promoted the false idea that Yosemite was open for discovery, exploration, and settlement, despite the Ahwahnechee people’s continued presence in the valley.
From the 2022 exhibition Historical Imaginary, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
Course History
ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022
GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022
ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022
ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022
ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022
ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022
ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022
SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022
Film Studies 42.23, Travelers and Tourists, Heidi Denzel, Spring 2023
History 63.02, Reading Artifacts: The Material Culture of Science, Whitney Barlow Robles, Spring 2023
Exhibition History
Historical Imaginary, Luise and Morton Kaish Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 17, 2022-November 12, 2023.
This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 12 - July 22, 2022.
Provenance
Zaplin Lampert Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico; sold to present collection, 2021.
This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.
We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu