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拍品專文
In July 1881, Albert Bierstadt left New York for his first trip to Yellowstone Park. Joining a party in Chicago, which included retired Supreme Court Justice Strong, Senator John Sherman of Ohio and Alfred Hoyt of New York, he traveled on the Union Pacific Railroad to Salt Lake City, then north to Dillon in Montana. From there, the group took wagons to Virginia City, Montana, where they met their military escort of a dozen soldiers from Fort Ellis, led by Lietenant Samuel M. Swigert. Well experienced with the local landscape, Swigert had been the Engineer Officer charged by Colonel Bracket to take field notes on the Second United States Cavalry’s 437-mile trek in 1869 from Carter’s Station, Montana, to Fort Ellis in 1869, where they joined the Thirteenth Infantry stationed at the post.
Bierstadt’s camping party traveled about twenty miles per day, taking a southeast route through the Madison River Valley into the Park. They first visited the Lower Basin, and then camped near Old Faithful in the Upper Basin, where the artist made a sketch of his travel companions Sherman and Hoyt in front of the active geyser. The group continued their travels through Sulphur Mountain and the Devil’s Cauldron to the shores of Yellowstone Lake and the Falls. Bierstadt joined a smaller group to make a memorable ascent of the 10,000-foot Mount Washburn on the way to the Lower Falls. Rejoining the military escort at Mammoth Hot Springs, he made his way to Fort Ellis and Bozeman, before beginning the journey back home through Virginia City.
In an interview with The New York Express in October 1881 upon his return, Bierstadt recounted of his Yellowstone adventure: “Yes, I have enjoyed myself—far more than I expected. I roughed it because it was necessary, and I think that I feel better for it. Why, I have become so accustomed to robust exercise that now I am in the midst of civilization, I hardly know what to do with myself. While I was in the Park we lived in tents almost exclusively. There are no houses anywhere near the geysers, and hence we found it sometimes very lonely. I say lonely because I did not find people to converse with: but, ah! How can one be lonely when one is surrounded by all the glories of a most glorious nature, and overhung by a sky unequaled by any in the world?...This is not the first season I have spent about the Rocky Mountains, but it is my first introduction to the geysers of Yellowstone…we encamped near the geysers, and hence the heat of the boiling water warmed the atmosphere around us. The scene when looking from our tents out into the cool moonlight air, with the silvery spray of the geysers spreading out over the landscape and the cascades falling from the cliffs in the distance, was very beautiful. I have several sketches here which I intend as jogs to my memory…” (as quoted in G. Hendricks, Albert Bierstadt: Painter of the American West, New York, 1973, pp. 265, 267)
The present work is a rare depiction of Bierstadt’s camping experiences on this trip, documenting his travel companions as well as some of their equipment. At the same time, Bierstadt--in more characteristic fashion--also shares a glimpse of the majestic landscape of the Yellowstone region, which would go on to inspire his acclaimed paintings for years ahead. Moreover, Bierstadt’s visions of Yellowstone would convince President Chester A. Arthur to make a similar expedition two years later in 1883, which in turn inspired preservation reforms protecting the Park for generations to come.
Bierstadt’s camping party traveled about twenty miles per day, taking a southeast route through the Madison River Valley into the Park. They first visited the Lower Basin, and then camped near Old Faithful in the Upper Basin, where the artist made a sketch of his travel companions Sherman and Hoyt in front of the active geyser. The group continued their travels through Sulphur Mountain and the Devil’s Cauldron to the shores of Yellowstone Lake and the Falls. Bierstadt joined a smaller group to make a memorable ascent of the 10,000-foot Mount Washburn on the way to the Lower Falls. Rejoining the military escort at Mammoth Hot Springs, he made his way to Fort Ellis and Bozeman, before beginning the journey back home through Virginia City.
In an interview with The New York Express in October 1881 upon his return, Bierstadt recounted of his Yellowstone adventure: “Yes, I have enjoyed myself—far more than I expected. I roughed it because it was necessary, and I think that I feel better for it. Why, I have become so accustomed to robust exercise that now I am in the midst of civilization, I hardly know what to do with myself. While I was in the Park we lived in tents almost exclusively. There are no houses anywhere near the geysers, and hence we found it sometimes very lonely. I say lonely because I did not find people to converse with: but, ah! How can one be lonely when one is surrounded by all the glories of a most glorious nature, and overhung by a sky unequaled by any in the world?...This is not the first season I have spent about the Rocky Mountains, but it is my first introduction to the geysers of Yellowstone…we encamped near the geysers, and hence the heat of the boiling water warmed the atmosphere around us. The scene when looking from our tents out into the cool moonlight air, with the silvery spray of the geysers spreading out over the landscape and the cascades falling from the cliffs in the distance, was very beautiful. I have several sketches here which I intend as jogs to my memory…” (as quoted in G. Hendricks, Albert Bierstadt: Painter of the American West, New York, 1973, pp. 265, 267)
The present work is a rare depiction of Bierstadt’s camping experiences on this trip, documenting his travel companions as well as some of their equipment. At the same time, Bierstadt--in more characteristic fashion--also shares a glimpse of the majestic landscape of the Yellowstone region, which would go on to inspire his acclaimed paintings for years ahead. Moreover, Bierstadt’s visions of Yellowstone would convince President Chester A. Arthur to make a similar expedition two years later in 1883, which in turn inspired preservation reforms protecting the Park for generations to come.