Rocky Inlet (from Sketchbook)
1890
Medium
Graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
4 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. (12.1 x 19.7 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Marguerite H. Rohlfs, 1995
Accession Number
1995.379.4b verso
Tags
Art Historical Context
Albert Bierstadt, a leading figure in the Hudson River School of landscape painting, captured the raw majesty of the American wilderness in *Rocky Inlet (frombook)*, dated 1890. By this late stage in his career, Bierstadt had spent decades traveling through the Rocky Mountains and Yosemite, translating his on-site observations into grand, luminous oil paintings that romanticized the nation's natural splendor. This intimate graphite sketch, however, reveals the artist's preparatory process, depicting a rugged coastal inlet framed by towering mountains—a motif echoing his lifelong fascination wi...
About the Artist
Albert Bierstadt · 1830–1902
Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) was a German-American landscape painter renowned for his monumental, luminous depictions of the American West. As a prominent member of the second generation of the Hudson River School and the Rocky Mountain School, Bierstadt created sweeping panoramas that captured the sublime grandeur of untamed wilderness with unprecedented theatrical scale and romantic vision. His ...