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Albert Bierstadt
1830- 1902
| Born: 7 January 1830 Solingen Germany Died: 18 February 1902 New York City, NY Biography: Bierstadt's family moved to America when he was two years old, although Bierstadt returned to Germany aged twenty-three, seeking training as a painter in Düsseldorf. He travelled in Europe, spending a year in Rome before returning to America in 1857. In 1858 he made his first trip to the American West, with Frederick W Lander's railway survey expedition to the Rocky Mountains. His greatest success came with Rocky Mountains, 'Lander's Peak' painted in 1863. The painting sold for $25,000 and travelled extensively, establishing Bierstadt's fame and reputation as the premier painter of the American West. In 1863 he spent nearly two months in the Yosemite Valley. In the late 1860s Bierstadt spent two years in Europe, during which he was granted an audience with Queen Victoria at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. He returned to California in 1871, and in the mid-1870s completed two history paintings for the United States Capitol. After this his career declined, as American tatse changed towards smaller, more intimate canvases. His career effectively ended in 1889, when The Last of the Buffalo was rejected for exhibition at the Paris Exposition Universelle. |
