(Sierra Nevada Morning by Albert Bierstadt)
“Truly all is remarkable and a wellspring of amazement and wonder. Man is so fortunate to dwell in this American Garden of Eden." -- Albert Bierstadt
Of the many artists during the expansion of the frontier, Albert Bierstadt is at the top of the list that developed beautiful, large-scale paintings depicting the frontier’s landscape. Bierstadt actually joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion in order to get the subject for his pieces. Even if he was not the first artist to do that, Bierstadt’s paintings still captured the glorified outlook Americans seized about the West. All of his artworks held such intricate details with glowing lighting, creating a romantic feel to the scenes. Upon observation each picture contains its’ own theatrical, poetic matter. Sierra Nevada Morning perfectly identifies Bierstadt’s skill in creating the frontier’s scenery, see figure 1.…show more content… (As a fun side note- I was observing this picture at the Gilcrease museum, and a security guard told me the deer in the picture are in the wrong part of the world. The deer are actually European, far from Nevada.) The colors range from orange, green, red, blue, and brown, to shades of gray. Rough texture is found in the trees, cliffs, and water bank by the use of jagged lines, while soft texture is displayed in the grass and water with minimal lines. Controlled lighting brings depth and emotion to the painting, allowing a glowing element to the scene. With the usage of magnificent detail, the artwork could almost be mistaken as a photograph. The elements closest to the viewer are fully illustrated with fine precision, whereas the background features are equipped with not as