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Alaskan Coast Range

Object Details

Luce Center Label
Albert Bierstadt traveled through western Canada in 1889 on the Canadian Pacific Railway. He headed to Alaska by steamer in search of "wild places in the mountains," but was shipwrecked in Loring Bay. He lived with the other passengers in Native American huts and filled two books with drawings and paintings of his surroundings. (Anderson and Ferber, Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise, 1990) This painting of the Alaskan coastline is an oil sketch, probably done on the spot as a study for a later work. The cool colors and thin layers of paint evoke the raw atmosphere of the wilderness where Bierstadt found himself stranded.
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artist
Albert Bierstadt, born Solingen, Germany 1830-died New York City 1902
Date
ca. 1889
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Orrin Wickersham June
Medium
oil on paper mounted on paperboard
Dimensions
13 7/8 x 19 3/8 in. (35.2 x 49.2 cm)
Type
Painting

Featured In

  • Explore America: Alaska
  • Natural Beauty
This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.
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