The American Scene including Important Photographs from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation
The American Scene including Important Photographs from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation
Albert Bierstadt
Sunset
Lot Closed
May 24, 05:47 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Albert Bierstadt
1830 - 1902
Sunset
oil on paper mounted on board
signed ABierstadt (lower left)
13 1/2 by 19 in.
34.3 by 48.3 cm.
Executed circa 1870s.
This work is included in the database for the Albert Bierstadt Catalogue Raisonné Project and is accompanied by a letter of opinion from Melissa Webster Speidel, President of the Bierstadt Foundation and Director of the Albert Bierstadt Catalogue Raisonné Project.
Charles Mongeon, Oregon
Estate of the above
Jack Mongeon, Oregon (acquired from the above by descent in 1915)
Camille Mongeon, Oregon (daughter of the above, acquired by descent)
Acquired from the above by the present owner
The present work is believed to have been executed circa 1870s and likely depicts the San Francisco Bay Area. As was typical of the artist’s technique, Albert Bierstadt produced numerous oil sketches and studies while working on larger easel paintings. Landscapes at sunset were a particularly common subject matter for the artist. These works captured the unique quality of each sunset, here in the present work he focuses particular attention on one element – the sun and its reflection on the shallow water below. In Sunset, Bierstadt paints the sun as it’s about to touch the horizon, the moment before dusk becomes night. Bierstadt intentionally fills the canvas with glowing hues of yellow and orange and the darker patches of grass in margins bring the eye back to center, emphasizing the reflection of the sun onto the water.