Albert Bierstadt, Alaskan Coast Range, ca. 1889, oil on paper mounted on paperboard, 13 7⁄8 x 19 3⁄8 in. (35.2 x 49.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Orrin Wickersham June, 1967.136.7
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Alaskan Coast Range
- Artist
- Date
- ca. 1889
- Location
- Dimensions
- 13 7⁄8 x 19 3⁄8 in. (35.2 x 49.2 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Orrin Wickersham June
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on paper mounted on paperboard
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Landscape — mountain
- Landscape — coast
- Landscape — Alaska
- Object Number
- 1967.136.7
Artwork Description
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.
