ABOUT THE LANDSCAPE

This small painting from Albert Bierstadt reflects signature styles of 1870s landscape painting.  Albert Bierstadt was a German-American painter known for his landscape paintings of the American West. Bierstadt worked briefly in the Adirondacks, with his best-known painting from region being Mount Whiteface from Lake Placid in the Adirondacks, a painting largely influenced by his brother Edward, who worked as a photographer in the region during the 1870s.

Albert Bierstadt was also a part of the Hudson River School, a group of painters from New York City who focused on romantic landscape painting. The Hudson River School was well known for being associated with the luminist style of painting, which can be seen in many of Bierstadt’s paintings such as Sunset with Cottonwoods. Luminism is a style that became popular during the 1850s and lasted into the 1870s. This style of painting emphasized lighting that gives the viewer a sense of serenity and peace.

Sunset with Cottonwoods is an example of this luminist style that was so popular during this time. This small painting of a sunset is an oil painting on millboard, which gives it a realistic effect. The foreground includes trees and small shrubbery that are dark due to backlighting from the sunset. The mountain is illuminated by bright orange and yellow hues, which light up the background of the painting. The vibrant sunset evokes a sense of tranquility and perhaps divinity. This painting is an example of what a popular painting from this era and highlights Bierstadt’s strengths as a landscape painter while also showing off his luminist work. -Page Poirier ’28

 

Albert Bierstadt
Sunset with Cottonwoods, 1871
Oil on millboard
SLU 65.167
Richard F. Brush Art Gallery
St. Lawrence University
Canton, NY