Sketches of Trees (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
1995.379.4ddd recto
Tags
Art Historical Context
Albert Bierstadt, a master of the Hudson River School and renowned for his dramatic, luminous landscapes of the American West, created these delicate *Sketches of Trees in 1890. Drawn from his personal sketchbook, this intimate graphite work on wove paper (4 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.) captures the artist's keen eye for natural forms late in his career. Unlike his monumental oil paintings that romanticized vast wildernesses, these quick studies reveal Bierstadt's hands-on approach to observing and recording nature's details—twisted branches, textured bark, and leafy canopies—essential for his grand compo...
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 ...