In 1876, the publisher Louis Prang issued a portfolio of fifteen
chromolithographic reproductions of watercolors by Thomas Moran titled
The Yellowstone National Park. With exquisitely-printed images by an
artist renowned for his monumental paintings of the West, and a text by
the famous geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden — who called the
portfolio a “just subject for national pride” — Moran and Prang
capitalized on the recent establishment of Yellowstone as the first
national park and the public’s growing fascination with western
landscape.
Born in England in 1837, Moran immigrated to the
United States with his family when he was seven years old, and
apprenticed as an engraver and painter in his teens. An 1871 excursion
to the Yellowstone region with Hayden, leader of a U.S. Geological
Survey in the western territories, proved a turning point for the
artist. Captivated by the hot springs, geysers, and colorful geography
of the region, Moran catapulted to fame the following year when Congress
purchased his monumental painting,
The Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone,
1872, to hang in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. By the time of his
death in 1926, Moran was intimately linked with Yellowstone and had
created thousands of oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints of
the West.
Highly-detailed color prints that rival the oil
paintings and watercolors on which they are based, chromolithographs
were tremendously popular in the nineteenth century. Thought to be the
most democratic art form, they allowed anyone to acquire well-made
reproductions of famous artworks to hang in their home.
The vibrancy
and accuracy of Prang’s chromolithographs proved a faithful complement
to Moran’s original watercolors, and helped spread the artist’s
new-found fame even further.
Alongside
The Yellowstone National
Park portfolio, the exhibition features drawings and watercolor sketches
Moran made in the field on his first trip to the West, highly-finished
watercolors produced upon return to his studio, and photographs by
William Henry Jackson, who worked side-by-side with Moran throughout
Yellowstone. Illuminating the rich visual history of the West, the
vistas found in this remarkable portfolio remain familiar to this day, a
reminder of Thomas Moran’s and Louis Prang’s lasting achievement and
influence.
Yellowstone and the West was organized by the Durham
Center for Western Studies, Joslyn Art Museum; and The Petrie Center for
Western American Art, Denver Art Museum. The exhibition is based on
Joni L. Kinsey’s publication
Thomas Moran’s West: Chromolithography,
High Art, and Popular Taste (Hitchcock Museum Shop, $45; Member price,
$40.50) which has recently been reprinted by Joslyn Art Museum and
Denver Art Museum.
Hours & Tours
Yellowstone and the West is included in free general Museum admission and will be open during all
regular Museum hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday*, 10 am to 4 pm; Thursday, 10 am to 8 pm. Closed Monday and major
holidays.
*New in 2014! Joslyn is now open two hours earlier on Sundays.
Docent-guided tours of the exhibition are offered on select Wednesdays
at 1 pm, Thursdays at 6:30 pm, Saturdays at 10:30 am, and Sundays at 1
pm. Check the
calendar of events for exact tour dates.
What's Pictured: (Left) Thomas Moran (American, 1837-1926),
The Mountain of the Holy Cross from
The Yellowstone National Park, and the Mountain Regions of Portions of
Idaho, Nevada, Colorado and Utah published by Louis Prang and Company, ca.
1876, chromolithograph on paper, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, Gift of
Gail and Michael Yanney and Lisa and Bill Roskens, 2001.40.10
Conserving Thomas Moran's The Pearl of Venice
June 7- September 7
Although Thomas Moran is most closely associated with his paintings of
the American West, Venice became an equally important subject for the
artist following trips there in 1886 and 1890. Venice’s shimmering
Mediterranean
light and captivating architecture offered Moran a
compelling new challenge.
The Pearl of Venice (1899) — a 1982 gift of
Mary McArthur Holland, Betty McArthur Heller, and Mickey McArthur — has
long been a favorite of Joslyn visitors, and Moran himself wrote of this
painting, “I think it is, perhaps, the finest Venetian picture that I
have painted, it is certainly the finest as an expression of the dreamy
beauty of Venice.” Over the years, the varnish layer — a clear coating
applied to intensify and protect the painting’s surface — has darkened
and discolored. As a result, the canvas’ once-lustrous glow has dulled.
Working in conjunction with Kenneth Bé, paintings conservator at the
Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center,
The Pearl of Venice has been
examined and partially cleaned at the Ford Center. Bé continues the
conservation process in the galleries, allowing visitors to chart his
progress as the light and color return to one of Moran’s greatest
paintings.
The conservation of
The Pearl of Venice has been made
possible through the generous support of the Holland Foundation. This
project is a joint partnership between Joslyn Art Museum and the
Nebraska State Historical Society, which operates the Gerald R. Ford
Conservation Center.
Public conservation hours:
Tuesdays, 2–4 pm and Thursdays, 4–6 pm, June 10 through September 2, and
Saturday, August 2, 1–3 pm. No conservation Tuesday, June 24, or
Thursday, June 26. Hours/dates subject to change. Visitors should check for changes to the schedule posted to this page.
What's Pictured: (Right)
Thomas Moran (American, born England, 1837–1926),
The Pearl of Venice, 1899,
oil on canvas, 25 1/8 x 45 1/8 in.; 63.82 x 114.62 cm,
Gift of Mary McArthur Holland, Betty McArthur Heller, and Mickey McArthur, 1982.6
The Lure of Public Land
Photographs of the West by William Sutton
Photographers have played a central role in shaping our understanding of
the American landscape since the first of the “Great Surveys” crossed
the West in the years following the Civil War — from William Henry
Jackson, who worked with Thomas Moran in Yellowstone, to the heroic
landscapes of Ansel Adams that inspired the conservation movement of the
1960s. William Sutton continues this tradition, presenting images of
public lands that he hopes will illuminate the complex challenges we
face in the twenty-first century. Over the past three decades, Sutton
has surveyed the landscape between the 100th meridian — the traditional
boundary that marks the beginning of the American West — and the Pacific
Coast, making the majority of his images on public lands administered
by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. Public
lands are used for a wide range of activities, including recreation,
logging and mining, grazing, and for habitat preservation. Home to clear
cuts and camp grounds, ski resorts and grassland meadows, they comprise
the vast majority of open land in the West. They are also the most
contested — places where the demand for resources is balanced by the
equally imperative need for preservation.
This exhibition is organized by Joslyn’s Durham Center for Western Studies to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
What's Pictured: (Above) William S. Sutton (American, born 1956), Desert View Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 1980, ink jet print, © William Sutton
Exhibition-related Events and Programming
Friday, June 6; 6-8 pm (doors open at 5:30 pm)
Members Preview
Joslyn members are invited for this private preview of Yellowstone and the West: The Chromolithographs of Thomas Moran. At 6 pm, join Toby Jurovics, Chief Curator and Holland Curator of American Western Art, for an overview of the exhibition. The
presentation will be followed by gallery viewing,
complimentary light hors d’oeuvres, and a cash bar. Invitations will be
mailed to Museum members with
reservation/attendance information. Not a member? Join now!
Saturday, June 7; 1-3 pm
Presentation & Discussion: The Lure of Public Land
This event is presented by Joslyn’s Durham Center for Western Studies in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. Join us for an afternoon of conversation ranging from Thomas Moran and the establishment of Yellowstone as the first national park to the challenges of the contemporary West. Speakers include Thomas Brent Smith, Director of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art, Denver Art Museum; photographer William Sutton; and Harris Sherman, former Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the USDA. A discussion moderated by Mace Hack, State Director of The Nature Conservancy, and Toby Jurovics, Chief Curator and Holland Curator of American Western Art, will follow. This event will be held in the Abbott Lecture Hall and admission is free.
Thursday, July 17; Cash bar opens at 5 pm, tour begins in gallery 11 at 6:30 pm
Late 'til 8 Gallery Talk
Join Toby Jurovics, Chief Curator and Holland Curator of American
Western Art, for a closer look at Yellowstone and the West. Admission is free.
Sunday, August 24; 2 pm
Joni L. Kinsey on Thomas Moran
Join noted Moran scholar Joni L. Kinsey for a discussion of her book Thomas Moran’s West: Chromolithography, High Art, and Popular Taste, which has recently been reprinted by Joslyn’s Durham Center for Western Studies and Denver Art Museum’s Petrie Center for Western American Art. A widely respected scholar of American Art, Kinsey is professor of art history at the University of Iowa. She is also the author of Thomas Moran and the Surveying of the American West and Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie. This program is free to the public and will be held in the Abbott Lecture Hall.
Many regularly scheduled programs will be presented with a nod to
Yellowstone and the West. Check these listings and follow the links for details:
- Art Encounters (Thursday, June 19 @ 10:30 am featuring Yellowstone and the West). Presented in partnership with The Nebraska Medical Center's Health
& Wellness Club, Art Encounters is free to all. Reservations are not
required.
Bring your web-enabled device or borrow one of ours to discover geological themes in the exhibition with the Art Rocks! Edventure. Art Rocks! includes themes such as temperature, color, and glaciers.
To access, using your mobile device, go to joslyn.org and select Mobile Tours. Remember, if you need a device, iPods may be borrowed at the Scott Edtech Gallery on the lower level.