The Beautiful Lie of the American West

Albert Bierstadt did not paint Yosemite exactly as he found it. He painted it the way a bleeding country desperately needed to see it. It was 1864 and the American Civil War was grinding up men and hope at an industrial scale. Back on the East Coast wealthy elites wanted a fresh start and they were willing to pay fortunes to look at an unspoiled frontier. Bierstadt gave them exactly what they wanted with Cho-looke the Yosemite Fall.

He grabbed geological reality by the throat and altered it. He stretched the granite walls and pulled the waterfall higher than nature actually allowed. He wanted pure drama. He painted tiny figures at the base of the massive cliffs to make the viewer feel utterly insignificant next to the wild power of the West. Then he drenched the whole scene in a glowing golden light. That light was not just atmospheric haze. It was a calculated trick. It implied a divine presence blessing the untouched wilderness. It told the buyers that claiming this western land was a holy mandate.

Bierstadt knew exactly what he was doing with his brush and canvas. He was selling a grand myth wrapped in breathtaking scenery. The wealthy buyers bought the dream completely. They used his exaggerated landscapes to justify brutal and sweeping westward expansion policies. Bierstadt made nature look like an empty cathedral waiting for a congregation. He gave a fractured nation a beautiful lie so they could build a brand new empire.

References

Bierstadt Albert. Cho-looke the Yosemite Fall. 1864. Oil on canvas 86.4 x 68.9 cm. Private Collection.

Hassrick Peter H. Albert Bierstadt Art and Enterprise. New York Hudson Hills Press 1990.

Wilton Andrew and Tim Barringer. American Sublime Landscape Painting in the United States 1820 to 1880. Princeton Princeton University Press 2002.