German-born American Hudson River School Painter, 1830-1902 Bierstadt was born in Solingen, Germany. His family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1833. He studied painting with the members of the D??sseldorf School in D??sseldorf, Germany from 1853 to 1857. He taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting himself to painting. Bierstadt began making paintings in New England and upstate New York. In 1859, he traveled westward in the company of a Land Surveyor for the U.S. government, returning with sketches that would result in numerous finished paintings. In 1863 he returned west again, in the company of the author Fitz Hugh Ludlow, whose wife he would later marry. He continued to visit the American West throughout his career. Though his paintings sold for princely sums, Bierstadt was not held in particularly high esteem by critics of his day. His use of uncommonly large canvases was thought to be an egotistical indulgence, as his paintings would invariably dwarf those of his contemporaries when they were displayed together. The romanticism evident in his choices of subject and in his use of light was felt to be excessive by contemporary critics. His paintings emphasized atmospheric elements like fog, clouds and mist to accentuate and complement the feel of his work. Bierstadt sometimes changed details of the landscape to inspire awe. The colors he used are also not always true. He painted what he believed is the way things should be: water is ultramarine, vegetation is lush and green, etc. The shift from foreground to background was very dramatic and there was almost no middle distance Nonetheless, his paintings remain popular. He was a prolific artist, having completed over 500 (possibly as many as 4000) paintings during his lifetime, most of which have survived. Many are scattered through museums around the United States. Prints are available commercially for many. Original paintings themselves do occasionally come up for sale, at ever increasing prices.  Related Paintings of Albert Bierstadt :. | Canadian_Rockies_Asulkan_Glacier | Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley | Thunderstorm in the Rocky Mountains | New Hampshire | Day-s_Beginning |
Related Artists:
Friedrich Nerly
painted Piazetta San Marco im Mondschein in 19th century
Colin Campbell Cooper
1856-1937 Colin Campbell Cooper Galleries Cooper was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Dr. Colin Campbell Cooper and Emily William Cooper. He studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins, and at Acad??mie Julian in Paris. Back in Philadelphia, he taught watercolor classes at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University). In 1897 he married renowned artist Emma Lampert, and the next year they moved to New York City, where he began work on his famous skyscraper paintings. He travelled extensively, sketching and painting scenes of Europe, Asia, and the United States in watercolors and oils. He and his wife were on the RMS Carpathia and assisted in the rescue of the survivors of the Titanic. Several of his paintings document the rescue. In 1912, Cooper was elected to a prestigious membership in the National Academy of Design. Cooper exhibited in San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915, winning the Gold Medal for oil and the Silver Medal for watercolor. He also participated in the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego. In 1920 his wife Emma died. He moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1921 and became dean of the School of Painting at the Santa Barbara Community School of Arts. He married his second wife, Marie Frehsee, in 1927. Cooper died in Santa Barbara in 1937.
STRIGEL, Hans II
German painter, Swabian school (active 1450-1480 in Memmingen). Painter. The panels of the Montfort-Werdenberg Altarpiece and a Deposition mural (1477), fragment of a series in the church at Tiefenbach, Allgäu, are documented as his. They show an artist in the tradition of Hans Multscher, using strongly foreshortened perspectives for an emphatic relaying of realities. In the 1470s he attempted to tone down the contrasts, to organize his figures after the manner of the Master of Sterzing: a change of style shown in the panels of the Mickhausener altar (Budapest, Mus. F.A.) and the Saints and Passion scenes in the Oberhaus-Museum