Art of the Week

Watkins and Bierstadt
on display now at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Watkins - Three Brothers

Bierstadt - Mirror Lake

Carleton E. Watkins
Born and died United States, 1829-1916

Carleton Watkins' mammoth photographic views of Yosemite were recognized in 1862 as "indescribably unique." These works persuaded the United States Congress in 1864 to pass legislation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, protecting Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa grove of giant Sequoias in an inalienable public trust. These awe-inspiring photographs influenced landscape painters of the period, such as Albert Bierstadt.

Carleton E. Watkins, Three Brothers, Yosemite National Park, No. 28, 1861. Albumen print. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Gift of Yolanda and Arthur B. Steinman.

Albert Bierstadt
Born Germany, 1830; died United States, 1902 (active United States)

Albert Bierstadt was inspired by Carleton Watkins' large-scale photographs of Yosemite. Popular demand for spectacular landscape imagery expressing the sublime in nature, a divine space untouched by Civil War strife, fueled Bierstadt's painting. Working from photographs, he created majestic views, such as Mirror Lake, on grand canvases in his New York City studio.

Albert Bierstadt, Mirror Lake, Yosemite Valley, 1864. Oil on canvas. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Sterling Morton to the Preston Morton Collection.