Vancouver (?) (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
1995.379.4kk verso
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled within Albert Bierstadt's sketchbook *Vancouver (?) (from Sketchbook)* (1890) offers a rare, intimate glimpse into the working process of one of America's foremost landscape painters. Bierstadt, a leading figure of the Hudson River School, renowned for his grand, luminous canvases depicting the majestic American West, such as Yosemite and the Rockies. This modest graphite drawing on wove paper—measuring just 4 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches—captures a fleeting moment of observation, possibly inspired by the rugged Pacific Northwest landscapes near Vancouver, though its exact subject remains tantal...
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 ...