Albert Bierstadt

American, born Germany, 1830-1902

Laramie Peak, 1870

oil on canvas

framed: 30 x 50 inches (76.2 x 127 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Gift of Lars Sellstedt Potter, Robert E. Rich, Mrs. J. F. Schoellkopf, IV, and Elizabeth Elser Doolittle Charitable Trusts, 1975

1976:3

More Details

Inscriptions

signature, dated / lower right / A Bierstadt / 70

inscription / back (now covered) / Laramie Peak / AB.—1870

Provenance

Mr. Josiah G. Munro, Buffalo, by 1915;
Maritime Trading Company, Salem, MA;
sold to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, October 20, 1975

Class

Paintings

Work Type

Oil painting

Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms

The German-American painter Albert Bierstadt is best known for his large-scale landscapes of the American West. Bierstadt sought to capture what he called “an authentic aesthetic experience” by painting the landscape in a way that confronted the unpredictability of nature. The artist visited Wyoming's Laramie Peak several times, creating at least two other paintings of the subject. In the Albright-Knox’s work, he emphasizes the mountain peak that looms majestically against a glowing sky, dwarfing the silvery surface of the lake below. While this scene is unquestionably picturesque, Bierstadt found a deeper spiritual renewal in the landscape, exclaiming, “Man is so fortunate to dwell in this American Garden of Eden.”

Label from Anselm Kiefer: Beyond Landscape, November 17, 2013–October 5, 2014