Artist Study Term 3: Albert Bierstadt and Ansel Adams

This term we are comparing the painting of an old favorite, Albert Bierstadt, with the photography of Ansel Adams. First, here are my favorite by each artist:

The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak 

by Albert Bierstadt

 The Tetons and Snake River

By Ansel Adams

 Ansel Adams was born in 1902 in California. He was an only child and became interested in music at the age of 12. He was first became nterested in photography when his family visited Yosemite and his father gave him his first Kodak camera. Adams went on to become a photographer and environmentalist best known for his work in the Yosemite Valley. His work serves as a record of what the national parks were like before tourism. Contrast is a major theme in his photographs. Adams died in 1984.

Albert Bierstadt was born in 1830 in Germany. His family moved to America and began painting in the early 1850s. He was part of the Hudson Valley School which was not an actual school but rather a group of painters with similar ideas, particularly about the use of light which came to be called luminism. Later, Bierstadt traveled west and painted many of the scenes he saw there. His work was an introduction to the West for many East Coast Americans. He died in 1902.


We are comparing Adams and Bierstadt because their have many compositions in common- particularly those found in Yosemite National Park. See their work below that includes Redwoods, Bridal Veil Fall, El Capitan and Half-Dome (Yosemite) and also Old Faithful (Yellowstone). Also included are Death Valley and Mount Rainier.

One last painting: Looking Down Yosemite Valley by Bierstadt