Thomas Colville Fine Art
19th c. American and French (Barbizon School) Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings
 

Albert Bierstadt (American 1830-1902)
Making Camp, 1859
Oil on paper mounted on board
11 ¼ x 15 3/16
Signed A Bierstadt lower right
19th Century American Frame
While Albert Bierstadt is most associated with the large dramatic vistas he created in his studio from the numerous studies and stereographs made on his trips to the American West, it is his plein-air oil studies on paper that truly capture the atmosphere and flavor of what was a strange and largely unknown region.
Making Camp is one of a group of works, formerly on loan to the Joslyn Art Museum, that Bierstadt painted on his first expedition, accompanying the 1859 government survey of western lands headed by Frederick W. Lander. Here the artist evokes the sensation of a final flare of sunlight backlighting the foothills as the brilliant colors of the fleeting low clouds vanish and the party of explorers makes camp for the night.