Thomas Moran 1837 - 1926

J.C. Moulton, Moulton & Rickets, Chicago, Illinois, 1906
The Munger Family, 1950
M. Knoedler & Co., New York
Private Collection, Dallas, Texas (sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 24, 2001, lot 106, illustrated)
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale

Thomas D. Murphy, Three Wonderlands of the American West, Boston, Massachusetts, 1912, p. 58, illustrated
Thomas D. Murphy, Seven Wonderlands of the American West, Boston, Massachusetts, 1925, p. 81, illustrated
Thurman Wilkins, Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains, Norman, Oklahoma, 1966, p. 225

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Cascade Falls, Yosemite belongs to a series of works that Thomas Moran produced following his trip to the Yosemite Valley during the summer of 1904. The artist and his daughter, Ruth, toured the Valley on horseback and he devoted much of the trip to sketching the great natural beauty they encountered. He was particularly interested in capturing Yosemite’s many waterfalls, several of which poured from astonishing heights down the cliff face. In the present work, Moran presents the raw power and dynamism of the falls. In its unending assault and erosion of the mountainside, the torrent of water crashes down upon the rocks below, sending clouds of spray into the air. The artist’s skillful handling captures the vitality of the falls as well as the resulting softness of the gently evaporating mist.

Moran first traveled to Yosemite in 1871 on a commission for Scribner’s magazine. The region had been designated as a state recreation area in 1864, and embraced a spectacular tract of mountain and valley scenery in the Sierra Nevada, including a breathtaking array of mountain peaks, waterfalls, sub-alpine meadows and forests of giant sequoias. Widely reproduced in popular magazines, Moran’s paintings of Yosemite, and other areas of the American West, helped inspire a preservationist movement that ultimately resulted in the creation of the National Park System. In 1890, Congress set aside nearly one million acres for the Yosemite National Park, but this territory did not include the Yosemite Valley or the Mariposa Grove. During his 1904 trip to the Valley, Moran learned of John Muir’s efforts to lobby for the inclusion of these two regions in the national park. The movement aroused his enthusiasm and resulted in his completion of several canvases that took the natural splendor of Yosemite as their subject.